


Cafe Con Leche and Mixtapes

by Ebhenah



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bonfires, Fluff and Humor, Found Family, Friends to Lovers, Multi, POV Lance (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), VLD Polyship Valentine's Exchange 2019, Voltron Polyamory Exchange, mer, oblivious boys, polyship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 23:38:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17776397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ebhenah/pseuds/Ebhenah
Summary: Lance struggles with being alone on Valentine's Day and two crushes that have been lingering since his Garrison Days aren't really making it any easier. Especially since one of them he has to work with every day and the other has become his sister's best friend during his absence.





	Cafe Con Leche and Mixtapes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Angel_Tortured](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_Tortured/gifts).



> _I wrote this for the VLD Valentine PolyExchange put together by @Voltron Polyamory Exchange on tumblr as a gift for Angel_Tortured. It is my first time participating in an event like this and I had a blast. I really hope my giftee enjoys the story (and doesn't mind that I went way, way, way overboard on the word count!)._  
> 
> _My prompt was "Lance is upset it's Valentine's day, his favorite holiday. He's alone, but he doesn't know that more than one love is just waiting for him." and the polyship I chose from the list given to me was "James/Keith/Lance"_  
>     
>  _This story was a lot of fun and I think that I might have a new favorite OT3 because of it!_  
>     
>   _As always, I live for feedback so please comment away!_
> 
>   _Enjoy_  
>  _Ebh_

“Sooooo… what do you think?” Lance asked. They were in one of the many conference rooms at the Garrison and he was sprawled sideways in one of the wheelie chairs keeping Keith company while he finished up some paperwork for Iverson.

“Uh-huh,” Keith answered, nodding distractedly.

“Keith! My man! Seriously?!? You aren’t even listening!”

“What? Oh… sorry. I am. It’s just… going over this report. I really think we could be getting better response times when we work with the MFE squadron if we could get more joint practices, but trying to arrange that means dealing with Griffin and that is…” he trailed off into a growl, then took a deep breath and shook his shoulders out. 

“I thought you and Griffin were cool now,” Lance asked, craning his head back to look at Keith over the arm of the chair. Even upside down, the frustrated furrow of those brows was too adorable to be good for his sanity. But… work. This was work stuff. Not the time for unrequited pining. He. Could. DO. This. Just… focus, McClain. Work. Voltron. Important universe saving shit. Got it. “You guys did the whole action movie badass head bob thing and everything. That’s like macho code for ‘the past is the past. Fresh start. Grr.’ Right?”

“Grrr? Macho code? Action movie… Lance, WHAT are you talking about?”

“That thing you do where there’s something you should talk to someone about but instead of talking you just do the whole, like, backwards nod thing, and that means ‘we’re good, no need to say words’. Like the badasses in action movies. I mean you and James are the badass rebel leader types, right? The guys that walk away from explosions without looking back.”

“Walk away from…” Keith shook his head, “whatever… yeah, I thought we were good, but lately… I don’t know, he’s just been- snarky and bullheaded and that’s assuming I can get him to talk to me at all! You’d swear he was busier than Shiro.”

“Okay, fine. If I can help you fix YOUR problem, will you help me figure out mine?” Because Lance was absolutely certain that if he didn’t fix his problem ASA-quiznaking-P he was going to do something colossally stupid and self-destructive and it would likely involve one of the assholes who walk away from explosions without looking back… because, dammit, Both Keith and James were too damn pretty, and brave, and strong, and smart, annnnnnd… this was exactly the reason he needed to find a freaking solution! 

“How are you going to fix this? Annoy Griffin until he decides dealing with me is a better option?”

“Well, I mean, I’m the youngest of five, I could DEFINITELY do that if you wanted to go that route… but no, I was actually thinking of seeing if Veronica has any input to offer. Those two are thick as thieves, he’s at my house more than I am… oh god- do you think James Griffin is hooking up with my sister?” PLEASE, God… or Bob… or whatever force controls the events of the universe, please, please, please don’t let James Griffin become his brother-in-law! That was beyond cruel!

Keith lifted his head to look at Lance, “no. I don’t think Griffin is hooking up with Veronica. Are you completely blind?”

“Huh?”

Keith laughed, “Veronica and Acxa are kind of a thing, but not really a thing yet. You never noticed?”

“Noooo!” He nearly fell out of the chair. Acxa and Veronica!?!? Since when?? “Shut-up! How did I miss that!?!? How do YOU know that?” 

“Ummm Acxa told me?” Keith looked at him oddly, “she had some questions about human social norms and I asked why…” He shrugged, “it’s not THAT big of a deal, is it? Shit- pleasssse tell me that I didn’t just out your sister!”

“What? Oh, no,” he laughed, rolling his eyes, “Nic and I have bonded over girl problems many, many times. I knew all about THAT, just not the Acxa thing.”

“Oh, okay, good, I was worried for a second there. Not that I think you’d give her a hard time or anything… just… her truth to tell, you know?”

“I get it, Keith, chill. She told me ‘her truth’ years ago. Anyway- back to the main point. I can talk to Nic. See if she has any ideas about what’s up with Griffin.”

“Yeah… That’s probably a good idea. Thanks, Lance.” He pushed the papers away and rubbed at his face, “paperwork sucks.”

“And not in the good way,” Lance quipped, waggling his eyebrows until Keith cracked a smile and gave one of those little huff-grunt things he did instead of really laughing. “Can we talk about my problem now?”

“Sure, Lance,” he sighed, “what’s the problem?”

“Valentine’s Day!” he groaned, “I was going to ask Allura-”

“Of course you were,” Keith shook his head.

“Can it, Mullet, I WAS!”

“Like you were going to ask her out for New Year’s Eve? And for the Holt’s holiday party? And-”

“Yeah, yeah… I’ve had some false starts. I KNOW.” He glared at Keith, “It’s just…”

“She’s a PRINCESS,” Keith quoted, “and she’s so beautiful, and strong, and smart, and badass… and she’s so caught up with work… and she’s always with Romelle… and…” One of his eyebrows rose, “Lance, unless you have NEW information, I’m going to tell you the same thing I’ve been telling you for months- ask her out, or don’t, but STOP making up reasons she would say no and deciding that the no is inevitable. At this point, all you are doing is torturing yourself.”

“You act like it is soooo easy,” he said softly, unable to keep the hurt out of his voice. Also- mental note to stop using Allura as a subject change when he felt like he was about to say something STUPIDLY honest to Keith. She hated this plan in the first place, but if she was ever in earshot to hear Keith say something like THAT, she’d kick Lance’s ass.

Keith sighed, “I know it’s not easy, Lance. I know it sucks to like someone you think is too good for you. All I’m saying is that you either have to take the shot or put down the gun, sharpshooter. Just because YOU think she is out of your league doesn’t mean SHE does.”

Lance snorted, “thanks… but, as I was saying, I’d already decided that Valentine’s Day was WAY too high pressure for a date with Allura. I was thinking… maybe… of asking… someone else?”

“Well… wow… alright, this IS new information! Who?”

“Nyma?” he braced for a bad reaction. He didn’t exactly have the best history with Nyma.

“NYMA!?!?!” Keith roared, “No! That is the WORST idea I have ever heard! She stole your Lion! She CUFFED YOU TO A TREE!!”

“Yeah, I know! I was there! But, she’s on our side now and I think maybe I should see if she wants a do-over. We were having a good time until she-”

“She PRETENDED to have a good time, Lance! Come on! You have to know that there is no way that’s a good plan.” He shook his head, dropping his face into his hand and muttering about Nyma and Rolo. “I’m betting you didn’t run THAT idea past Hunk, right?”

“Well… no.”

“And WHY didn’t you mention it to Hunk?” Keith prodded.

“Because Hunk can’t stand Nyma.”

“Exactly… and how many people has Hunk ever disliked AND been wrong about?”

“None,” Lance sighed. “Dammit! My Valentine’s is ruined. We’re finally back on Earth, and I’m going to be all alone, on the MOST ROMANTIC night of the year! I’m a HERO, Keith! I’m FAMOUS! I’m LOVERBOY LANCE! I shouldn’t be alone on the most romantic night of the year!”

Keith was quiet for a long time before he spoke again. “It’s just one night, Lance. It doesn’t mean forever… it doesn’t mean ANYTHING.”

“Yeah. Sure,” he stood up, grabbing his messenger bag, “I should be getting home. I’ll talk to Veronica tonight or tomorrow. We’ll figure out the Griffin thing.”

“Listen, Lance… about Nyma…’

“No, you’re right. It’s a bad idea. I… don’t know what I was thinking… s’okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. Get that paperwork finished and get some rest. You look exhausted.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

So, Veronica was useless. Well, no… Veronica was amazing, and he should never think that she was useless ever again, because if ANY human was going to spontaneously develop the ability to read minds, it would be her, and she’d shred him where he stood for even thinking that. TALKING to Veronica had not been helpful. Like, at all.

“James is just very busy and he has a high stress job. He has no issues with how Keith is handling Voltron and I’m sure he would be very amiable to the idea of doing more training runs,” had been her VERY professional response to his concerns. But she’d seemed… worried, and when he’d pushed, she’d insisted that it was personal concern for a friend, nothing to do with work. 

Eventually, he got her to admit that she was concerned because he was still carrying a torch for someone from years ago and “you know what happens when you hang on to a match too long.” So. That. Whoever that chick was, she had to either be an absolute idiot or the gayest girl in the known universe.

He’d passed Veronica’s very professional response along to Keith and left out the rest because Keith, historically, had a very low tolerance for ‘personal issues’ and he wasn’t wasting any of that tiny window on some old crush of Griffin’s. He needed every scrap of it to torture himself with hounding Keith about HIS lack of a love life. He wasn’t really sure what his brain thought was going to happen- it’s not like he thought whining to Keith about his lack of dates was going to make the guy suddenly fall in love with him. He wasn’t that clueless.

Maybe it was just that… sometimes… when he bugged Keith about being single… Keith would say something nice about him. Usually something he’d never thought of or noticed before. Like, one time Keith said he was the kind of guy who genuinely wanted to support the people he cared about the way that worked best for THEM when they had a problem instead of ‘bulldozing over them’. It was… admittedly, not exactly the most romantic trait to praise… but it seemed like something important, and especially so coming from Keith.

Actually, he was starting to worry that Veronica had told Griffin he’d been asking about him. The guy was still at his house with Nic a good 90% of the time that they were both free from work commitments. Granted, they spent a LOT of time caught up in work commitments, so it wasn’t like Lance NEVER got a break from his presence. But... since he’d talked to his sister, it really seemed like Griffin was… like... WATCHING him. 

More and more, when they were all flaked out watching television like they were now, he’d turn to say something to his sister and catch James hastily looking away, a scowl on his face. They’d be at the dinner table and he’d get that skin-crawly feeling that told him he was being watched, an instinct that had been well-honed by being on far too many covert missions and not knowing who was loyal to Zarkon. He’d walk into the room and the quiet but animated conversation between Veronica and the MFE pilot would falter and fade out until he left again.

James Griffin always threw him off-balance. They’d initially gotten along really well at the Galaxy Garrison. They’d been assigned to work on a couple of projects together and he’d thought they’d been building a friendship. He’d never been able to figure out what prompted the change, but James had started brushing him off, then acting like hanging out was some kind of chore. That was around the same time he’d gotten so invested in his rivalry with Keith. Actually, looking back, he wouldn’t be surprised if part of the reason that the rivalry had become SUCH a big deal to him was as a way to not obsess about why a potential friendship had tanked out of the blue.

There’d been a lot going on back then, he reflected. Veronica had started spending more and more time with him, under the guise of studying together. But she’d gone quiet and intense and he could tell she wasn’t sleeping well or eating right. She’d even started chewing her nails again. He’d finally confronted her about it, terrified that she’d been assaulted like their cousin’s girlfriend. That’s when she’d come out as bisexual, full of apologies for scaring him, and in a near-panic at the thought of being rejected by her family and friends. He’d stepped up as the doting and supportive little brother, ready to slay dragons for his big sister and closest sibling. 

When they were little their mother would call him ‘Veronica’s little duckling’ because he would trail after her so much, trying to be like her, to follow in her footsteps. The nickname had died off once he’d started school and they each had their own friends, but his mother had reminded him of it when he’d packed up his stuff to move into the dorms at the Galaxy Garrison. He’d always looked up to her. They’d always been a lot alike. He really should have looked a little deeper when she’d come out. It probably would have saved him a lot of teenage angst.

“What?” James said, one eyebrow quirked up.

“Huh?” Lance blinked at him.

“You’ve been staring at me, all angry looking,” he explained.

“What?” Shit. He’d been staring at James?? His cheeks felt hot and he shook his head, “uh… sorry. I was just… thinking… zoned out. Didn’t even realize I was looking your way.”

“What the heck were you thinking about that made you look so pissed off?” Veronica asked, her expression impish.

“Garrison Galaxy, actually,” he answered. “I do NOT miss being a student.”

“Yeah… high school SUCKED in so many ways. At least you were always a good student, though,” James said easily, settling back against the couch next to Veronica who put her feet in his lap.

“That’s because I saved all my notes,” his sister teased.

“Your notes didn’t help much for my flight classes,” he argued.

“Exactly! And your flight classes were the only ones you struggled with!”

“STRUGGLED!?!? I was consistently in the top five scores! Most of the time I was top three!”

“Still got you bumped to cargo pilot!”

“Woah! Enough,” James cut in, “Vero- first of all you are not a pilot and have never tried to be one, so you don’t get to weigh in on flight scores. Second of all, stop acting like cargo pilot is something to be ashamed of, because it is NOT… and you know it! Cargo pilots kept people alive during the occupation and we’d have been sitting ducks without them. The difference between a fighter pilot and a cargo pilot is… tiny. It is literally just whether you scored better in targeting and speed, or maneuvering and stability. The cargo pilots need to have just as high an overall score as the fighters.” He huffed, shooting Lance an exasperated look, “and Lance- c’mon, you KNOW she was trying to get a reaction out of you. Don’t rise to the bait. I’ve seen how you and Kogane are now, so I know you CAN ignore it when it suits you.”

Lance had no idea how to respond to… ANY of that. James defending cargo pilots? Cracking down on VERONICA on his behalf? Mentioning Keith? Nope. SmartassLance.exe has stopped working. Luckily, he was saved from having to come up with something because Veronica rolled her eyes and threw popcorn at James, “your ‘only child’ is showing again, Griffin. We aren’t your squad, dial it back.”

“Only child, huh?” Lance asked, latching onto something else to talk about.

“Technically, no… but,” he shrugged, “I have a half brother, but I lived with my mom and he lived with our Dad, so I didn’t really grow up with him.”

“So, not the typical sibling experience,” he answered, smiling. “Got it.”

“Is there any such thing?” James countered. “You guys are very different from the Holts… heck, Vero, you have a TOTALLY different relationship with Rachel than you do with him.”

“Rachel is my older sister and like, obsessed with getting everyone all married off and settled,” Veronica pointed out, “Lance is…” her smiled turned evil.

He knew that look, felt is stomach drop with dread because he KNEW, he just knew what she was about to say. “Nic, don’t you DARE!”

“Lance is my widdle DUCKLING,” she cooed.

“Oh my ffff-quiznaking hell, you did NOT just,” he was out of his chair and sitting on her in a blink, long fingers digging into her sides as he tickled her. James made a hasty retreat once the kicking started… which was almost immediately.

She squealed and thrashed, trying to dislodge him. When that didn’t work, she swatted at him with a throw pillow. “You,” she gasped between peals of laughter, “are… gonna… PAY… fer’that!”

“Yeah?” he taunted, “I don’t think so… I still know where you are ticklish!”

“Ohmigod, Lance I HATE you so much!” she screeched.

It was weird, but hearing her say that she hated him felt good. It felt like HOME. His whole family had been… kind of walking on eggshells with him since he’d gotten back. Too nice. Too loving. He got it. He did. He’d been the same way with them. Being torn apart had made them appreciate each other more. But, this felt like some kind of breakthrough. Veronica smacking him with a pillow and screaming that she hated him felt kind of like he’d gotten the sister he grew up with back, instead of the far too grown-up and serious woman who’d greeted the Paladins on their return.

“Are you guys TEN?!?” Rachel yelled over them, “grow the hell up!”

“She called me her duckling!” Lance protested. He stopped tickling her, but he grabbed her wrists, because he knew if he didn’t she’d retaliate, and she knew all his ticklish spots, too.

“Veronica!” Rachel scolded, “in front of company?!?!”

“It’s just James,” Veronica laughed, “he’s already heard all the stories.”

What? His blood ran cold and he dropped his gaze to Veronica’s face. She was serious. She’d told James Griffin all the duckling stories. All the humiliatingly ‘cute’ stories about the way he’d followed after and mimicked his big sister as a kid. How he’d cried inconsolably that she’d ‘abaddened’ him every day for two solid weeks when she’d started school. How he’d dressed up as her for Halloween TWO TIMES. How he’d once declared, at age three, that he was going to marry her when he grew up. How could she?

“I can’t believe you,” he hissed, releasing her wrists and standing. “I’m… going to go make sure Keith didn’t fuck up the reports on yesterday’s mission. I’ll probably crash on base somewhere.”

“Lance?” Veronica’s voice was soft, tentative.

“Not now,” he snapped, grabbing his coat and heading to the porch.

Rachel found him before he got his shoes on, “are you okay?”

“Yep,” he answered, voice bright, expression light-hearted. “Just have work to do.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and leveled her best ‘mom’ look at him. It was pretty good. She’d been practicing during the YEARS he’d missed out on. “Porch swing,” she insisted. 

“I’m not a kid,” he said, “I don’t need you to referee my relationship with Veronica.”

“I know you’re not a kid,” she said, “but I’m still your big sister, and I’m not going to lecture you, because SHE fucked up.”

“Rachel,” he gasped playfully, “language!”

“You’ve gotten too used to being around people who don’t know you,” she said, “because I know what the joking around means. So, it’s not gonna work on me.”

“Rachel,” he sighed, “I’m not sitting on the porch swing and pouring my heart out to you like I did when I was a kid.” He gestured toward the living room, “I need a LOT more space than that.”

“Fine,” she held up her keys, “we’re going to the beach, then.”

He glared, she knew he couldn’t say no to the beach at night. “Fine,” he grumbled, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

They drove to the beach in silence, Lance distracting himself by fiddling with the controls on the car radio. So, many of his favorite stations were just dead air now. It was kind of depressing. Rachel parked the car, grabbed her phone and a little speaker from the glove box and got out, knowing he’d follow her.

They found a picnic table near a wind break and she sat- ass on the table, feet on the bench- the way she always had. “Sit,” she pointed to the bench between her feet.

“Rache- you don’t have to-”

“Lance, I said sit… and don’t tell me what I have to do,” her voice was… odd. 

He looked over to see her wipe at her eyes. “Rache?”

“I’ve missed this, okay?” Her exasperation was obvious, “I’ve missed sitting at the beach and playing with your hair while you bitch about everything that’s stressing you out. I missed being able to HELP my baby brother! You were… gone… and when you came back- all your problems… they were just… too big for big sister magic. You and Veronica? That I can work with, so would you just sit your skinny ass on the bench and let me do my thing?”

Chagrined, he plodded over to her and dropped onto the bench seat of the picnic table. “When you put it that way…”

“Hmmmph,” she fiddled with her phone and folk music he’d grown up with started playing softly. “Veronica shouldn’t have used your old nickname in front of James.”

“No,” he said, watching the way the moonlight danced on the water, “she shouldn’t have.”

“And she definitely shouldn’t have told him the stories. No matter how much she missed you.” Rachel dragged her fingers through his hair, combing it back from his face. 

“They are so humiliating,” he muttered, pulling his hands out of his pockets and draping his arms over her legs.

“I’ve always thought they were sweet… but they weren’t about me. I used to be so jealous of her.”

He snorted, “oh please! When were you ever jealous of Veronica?”

“When you disappeared,” she answered, “and she was the last of us to see you, the only one who had any idea of what life at that place was like, the only one with any chance of finding any kind of information.”

“Oh.” What the heck was he supposed to say to that? 

“And then, the investigation was… awful… They kept trying to say you ran away.”

“They did? But… Hunk and Pidge and Keith all disappeared the same time…”

“Mmm… it always felt like a stretch. Man, you are so much taller than the last time we did this.” She scratched lightly for emphasis. “I haven’t been out here in forever. Forgot how pretty it is.”

“I thought I remembered,” he said, smiling, “I was wrong. So much prettier than it is in my mind. I used to drive everyone nuts talking about the ocean and rain. Pidge threatened to cut my tongue out.”

Rachel chuckled, “that’s a little harsh.”

“Meh, she’s mostly talk.”

“Mostly?”

“Yeah… mostly talk, little bit violent chaos.”

“Sounds like a little boy I knew once upon a time. What are the others like? The Paladins, the aliens… you guys all seem so close, but I barely know any of them.”

He gave her a brief rundown of the people he’d spent so much time with in space, quickly realizing that they wouldn’t really be summed up so easily. So, he started telling stories that he thought would help her get a better picture. He talked about Shiro’s leadership, his resilience, when he vanished, the clone, not being able to help him when he’d reached out on the astral plane. How he still felt bad about that. She’d pointed out that he must have a high opinion of him if Lance was the one he reached out to and not Allura.

That led to him talking about the Princess. Like, way too much about the Princess. He knew he was rambling, but he couldn’t seem to help it. So much of his time away was all wrapped up in Allura. He talked about his crush, and their eventual friendship, how much it hurt to see her betrayed by Lotor, to lose her home, how things had changed between them since they’d reached Earth. He talked about Pidge and Hunk and how the friendship between them had changed and grown from when they’d been grouped together in the Garrison. He talked about Mer, and the game show, about becoming a bona fide heartthrob during the Voltron Show, and he’d confessed how much he’d HATED that part of it, even though he’d loved meeting fans and performing. He told her about Coran, Romelle, Lotor, Krolia and Keith. He talked about the Castle and how lonely he could get, how homesick, how scared and discouraged. He talked about how devastating it had been that they were too late to protect Earth, and his struggles to adjust to being back home on a planet that had changed so much with family and friends that had aged more than he had, how lonely it was to feel like he’d been left behind somehow.

Rachel let him talk himself out. She’d always done that. She was the only one who had the patience to let him ramble until his racing brain shut the hell up. Usually right where they were at the moment, too. He didn’t even remember how old he was when they’d started doing this, but he did remember that in his earliest memories of it, their father would be sitting in a fold out chair nearby. This was their thing. As close as he and Veronica had been, Rachel had always been there for him when he felt like his head and heart were about to burst.

He ended on a sigh and her hands stilled in his hair. They sat quietly for a long time, just watching the water, listening to the waves lap at the beach. “I mentioned that there was an investigation,” she said softly, “that means they searched your dorm room. They interviewed your classmates and teachers… and us.”

“Oh… weird. I hadn’t really thought about that. At least the place wasn’t a mess.”

“They wanted to know if there was any reason you might want to run away. Anything you might be scared to see how we’d react to.” She took a breath, “they had your journals, Lance. They told us what was in them.”

He went still, barely even remembering to breathe. “What?”

“We’ve all wanted to protect your privacy… give you time. I kind of figured you’d talk to Nic first… but… tonight… everything you were saying. You just seem so… heartbroken… and I want you to know, you can talk to me. I already know. I still love you exactly the same. We all still love you exactly the same. Just like how we love Veronica exactly the same. We are just… so lucky to have you back, okay? That’s all we care about. You’re back and we love you. We want you to be happy.”

“You know?” Relief was battling panic inside him. His poor heart didn’t know what to do.

“Yeah. I know you are bi, Lance. I know you are polyamorous. It didn’t even really surprise me very much once I had a chance to think about it. You have so much love to give, and you have always seen the best in people. It fits.” She leaned forward, using the hand in his hair to turn his head so she could meet his eyes, “it suits you perfectly. I love you, EXACTLY the way you are. I wouldn’t change you being bisexual if I could. I wouldn’t change you being polyamorous if I could. I wouldn’t change ANYTHING about you. You’re my little brother and you are PERFECT.”

He stood, feeling like he was going to burst right out of his skin. She knew. They all knew. They’d known since before he’d gotten home and hadn’t said a word. Hadn’t given a single indication that they knew his deepest, darkest secrets. Rachel’s words kept bouncing around in his head. He turned to face her, tears streaming down his cheeks, “you wouldn’t change anything? Really? Nothing?”

“Not. One. Thing,” she drew a little x over her heart to prove her sincerity. “I love you, Lance, just the way you are.”

“I love you, too, Rache. I missed you so much!” The next thing he knew, he was kneeling on the bench of the picnic table, his face buried in his sister’s shoulder as she squeezed him tight. She murmured soothing things to him in Spanish, even singing to him softly as he cried out a few years worth of stress.

By the time they got back to the house, it was the wee hours of the morning. James was long gone, the whole house asleep. Lance found a note stuck to his door. ‘I screwed up. I’m sorry. I’ll explain sometime if you want me to. It’s not what you probably think. Love you the most.- V’

He sighed. She’d signed it ‘V’, not his pet name for her, ‘Nic’ which meant she knew she was in the doghouse with him. His gaze drifted to the door of her room, and for the first time he reflected that it was odd that she hadn’t moved out already. There was no light leaking out around the frame, so she must have already fallen asleep. Morning came early for the front-line of Earth’s defenses and Veronica had always been more responsible and disciplined than he was. She probably didn’t stay up much past her usual bedtime, even waiting on him. He COULD wake her. He knew from experience that she’d be fine with that if it meant patching things up between them. He just, wasn’t ready to do that. He was still reeling and raw from his conversation with Rachel. He couldn’t handle another heart to heart tonight.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The next morning, James found him before the meeting and handed him a coffee. It was take-out. A paper cup with a cardboard sleeve advertising a little cafe Lance had seen but never been in because it was always swamped. “It’s good stuff,” he said quietly, “Ryan hooked me up.”

“Thanks,” he said, taking a sip. His eyes widened, “cafe con leche?” 

“Given how the rest of your family guzzles the stuff, I figured it was a safe bet,” James replied, and Lance felt his pulse jump at that smile. “It’s a peace offering. Kind of.”

“A peace offering? Why would you need to bring me a peace offering?”

“I’ve been kind of intruding,” he sat in the chair across from Lance. Too close. Too friendly. Lance didn’t know how to process this! James didn’t seem to notice his panic, continuing his train of thought uninterrupted, “being at your place so much lately with Vero. So…” James nodded at the coffee with a shrug.

“She’s your friend. It’s whatever. Hey- what’s with the Vero thing? That’s new.”

“Is it? I’ve always called her that… and it’s not ‘whatever’. It’s your house, if you don’t want me around, I don’t have to be.”

“It’s not that, James,” he pushed his hand through his hair, taking another sip of the coffee. “Damn, that’s good. It’s just… like… childhood crap intersecting with work crap. It’s… I’m not used to it, that’s all.”

“Makes sense,” his gaze dropped and fiddled with his own coffee. “I like your family… Especially now. That’s a big part of it.”

“I do, too,” he answered, trying for a playful smile. “Why especially now, though?”

He didn’t respond right away, which was fine. Lance was used to waiting for Keith to choose his words. “Most people lost a lot in the attacks, the occupation. I don’t know, I spent some time with them before, too… so it’s nice to see what they are like when they’re whole.”

“Because I’m back?” Lance guessed, “was it… was it really awful when I was gone?”

“The worst,” James answered, then shook his head like he thought better of it. “They never gave up… but… that kind of hope. It keeps people from moving on.”

“Oh,” his heart broke a little at the thought of his family in some kind of holding pattern, waiting on news of him. “That makes sense, I guess.”

“They… uh… your parents mostly…” James fidgeted in his chair, “they used to ask me to tell stories about you- because we shared some classes.”

He snorted, “that must have been a challenge. We didn’t hang out much.”

“I have a few!!” James protested, smiling, “like, that time we had a sub for physics and she decided that we were screwing with the seating chart because there was no way someone who looked like you could be a McClain and you recited like four generations of your family tree and went off about how multi-cultural Cuba’s roots are.”

“Oh man, I can’t believe I forgot about that racist shrew,” Lance shook his head, “that’s a good one for my parents. They love stuff like that.”

“Yeah- and the time you lost a bet and had to wear heels to the dance,” he laughed, “so you showed up in like silver holo platform boots and did the splits in the middle of the dance-floor.”

“I made that bet with YOU!”

“Yeah, I might have left that part out. Where did you get those boots, anyway?”

“Uhhh, I had connections?”

“Connections? What kind of connections get you silver holo platform boots?”

“I had a friend that bussed tables at a burlesque club,” he crossed his arms over his chest smugly. “Borrowed them from one of the dancers.”

“A burlesque club,” James rolled his eyes, “why am I not surprised?”

“Uhh… because everyone LOVES me, that’s why!”

“Yeah… that’s gotta be it,” James replied with another eyeroll. “What was the bet in the first place?”

“I… don’t know?” His brow furrowed as he sipped his coffee, “you’d think I’d remember that…”

“Oh! I remember- it was who could get Jessica Myers number first!”

“And you CHEATED!” As soon as James had said it, the memory clicked into place. “You told her the RA sent you to update his files!”

“Not cheating- the bet was get her number, not flirt until she shared it with intent of arranging a date. Just have the number. Not my fault I had a better approach!”

Lance glared, but looking back, he couldn’t really fault James for following the letter of the agreement over the intent of it. It was a solid tactic. The kind of thing Coran or Pidge would come up with. “What other stories did you tell them?”

James regaled him with a few more stories about him- which was really more about hearing his family’s reaction to them than the stories themselves- until people started arriving for the morning briefing. Keith arrived with Shiro first to discover him and James laughing their asses off about his mother’s horrified reaction to hearing about the time Lance had ‘accidentally’ flooded one of the washrooms during exams. Why he thought an out of order washroom would make them postpone an exam was lost on him now, but he knew that he’d thought it was a solid plan at the time.

Keith took the seat next to Lance, between him and Shiro. James rapped on the table once and stood, moving to his usual spot against the wall and tossing his empty coffee cup into the trash along the way. “What’s so funny?” Keith asked quietly, his expression curious and a little… worried.

“Just… school memories.” Lance answered, smiling at Keith. “Dumb shit I used to do.”

“That’s a subject that could take a while to cover,” Keith muttered, “good coffee?”

“Yeah, actually. James surprised me with cafe con leche.”

“Why?!?”

“Uhh.. it’s kind of complicated, actually. I can fill you in later if you want?”

“Yeah, no. I doubt it’s anything I want to hear. Look sharp, here come the brass. Meeting’s about to start.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

James had another cafe con leche for him the next morning, too. The briefing had been about to start and Lance was in his usual spot beside Keith, going over a report from the Blade with him when James and Veronica had arrived. James had set the paper cup on the table beside him without a word and joined the other MFE pilots. He’d made a point to give James a little thank-you nod after he took his first sip. It was just… so much better than the sludge they provided for the meetings. Veronica had quirked an eyebrow at the exchange but that was it. They still hadn’t talked about the whole ‘duckling’ thing, and he wasn’t ready to. But he knew that Veronica would only be patient about giving him space for so long before she cornered him to talk.

‘Hmmmph,” Keith shifted beside him, tapping the papers into a neat stack. “Good coffee?”

“Really good,” Lance answered, “I think he’s trying to get me to talk to Veronica.”

“By bringing you coffee?”

“I think Veronica is buying it and James is just delivering it.”

Keith rolled his eyes, “I really don’t get siblings sometimes.”

“We’re fighting, so I wouldn’t accept it from her directly,” he explained, “but she’s trying to show me she wants to talk.”

“If you say so,” Keith still sounded confused, “so, is it going to be a THING now? Fancy coffee every morning?”

“I doubt it. Probably just until I talk to her.” Any further discussion was cut off by the briefing being called into session. 

He’d been wrong. He and Veronica patched things up. She’d explained that she’d told James the stories before Sam Holt had returned, to justify why she was so certain he wouldn’t have run away without telling her. It was hard to be mad about that. He probably would have done the same if she’d been missing and the authorities were trying to claim she’d just abandoned him and their family. So, things were decent with Veronica, but still James brought him a coffee every morning, and after discovering Lance and Keith working together before the meeting a few times, he started bringing one for Keith, too. No real explanation was ever offered. When Lance asked, James would just shrug and say that it was just as easy to grab coffee for all of them as it was to get it for himself.

Within a week, the three of them started arriving almost half an hour early for the briefing and shared a coffee, sometimes chatting, sometimes brainstorming solutions for work issues. By the end of January, they were using the time to problem solve tactical issues with the way that the MFEs and Voltron interacted in the field when Atlas was unable to engage. James was actually a LOT like Shiro in how he tackled problems, which kind of surprised Lance. The three of them all had different approaches- James was very strong on classic military tactics, stressing formations and coordination. Keith approached things from a guerrilla position, most of his tactics training having come from the Blade of Marmora and how they ran missions. Lance tended to look at the broader picture and was inclined to come up with ideas that were more geared towards minimizing risk to their people. Not that either Keith or James was careless, but they both tended to get caught up in the whole ‘this is war, there will be losses’ concept until Lance reminded them that they were hugely outnumbered and couldn’t AFFORD to think of losses as inevitable.

The time they spent tossing ideas around and debating their merits before the official briefing quickly became the highlight of Lance’s workday and it was having a noticeable positive impact on how the two teams worked together. Noticeable enough that both Shiro and Iverson commented on it on their way out of the briefing one morning. 

“Whatever you guys have been doing, it’s working. Keep it up,” Shiro had encouraged after getting them to hang back after the meeting.

“You got it, old man,” Keith had answered with a grin.

“Well, if you are going to call me that, then I get to do this, kiddo,” Shiro had answered, ruffling Keith’s hair and then ducking out of the room quickly.

“What was THAT?” James asked, incredulous.

“Nothing,” grumbled Keith, cheeks blazing,

“Oh my God, Keith… stop being so damn secretive,” Lance said, rolling his eyes, “Shiro’s his big brother.”

“What?”

“Not like… biologically,” Keith clarified, “but he, like… “ He looked at Lance helplessly.

“He was Keith’s guardian while he was at the Garrison.”

“So, you stole his car and he moved you in?” James was clearly floored.

“Hold up! You STOLE SHIRO’S CAR!?!? How did I not know this?” Lance shoved Keith’s shoulder.

“Not exactly proud of it,” Keith answered, glaring at James.

“Oh man… That’s fucking perfect! It makes complete sense.”

“It does?” James asked.

“Red,” Lance answered, and Keith laughed.

“Red?”

“Keith was Red’s Paladin before me-”

“-and I had to steal Red back from the Galra,” Keith finished.

“Not sure that really explains anything, but sure.” James rapped on the table and stood, “I’ve gotta go, I’m booked on the range. I’ll see you at the bonfire thing tonight, though, right?”

“Bonfire thing?”

“It’s like a beach party thing for my parents’ anniversary. Veronica invited you to that? I didn’t think it was going to be anyone but family and neighbors.”

“Yeah… she told me to bring my guitar and some booze to share.”

“Well, in that case, I’m bringing the team- hey Keith? Looks like I’m allowed to invite people to the party! Wanna get drunk with my family?”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

On such short notice, the only Paladins that had been able to make it to the bonfire were Shiro and Keith. Pidge and Hunk each had their own family commitments, and the Alteans had all wanted to stay on the Atlas in case the recovered pilot awoke. Weekends weren’t really a THING for Voltron or the MFE squad, but things had settled down enough, for long enough that pretty much everyone was confident that they could relax their guard a little and so both teams actually had a day off the next day. No morning briefing. No drills. No strategic brainstorming sessions. Not even any debriefings on their time in the Castle of Lions.

So, Lance was truly celebrating. He was home. His family was safe and whole. He was able to take part in his parents’ anniversary festivities for the first time in years and he was NOT missing out on everything it had to offer. The bonfire started in the early evening, just after dusk. The younger family members, the elderly, and anyone who was facing an unforgivably early morning showed up for a boisterous meal of potatoes, Cuban sandwiches, and corn on the cob wrapped in foil and nestled into the embers of the fire, or wieners or marshmallows on sticks.

Picnic tables and benches were dragged into position ringing the fire at a safe distance and as people arrived with instruments and assorted sound gear, a makeshift stage and dance-floor cropped up near a natural windbreak. Coolers filled with ice started to dot the sand and by the time the early birds started to wander home and the last of the night owls arrived, those coolers were filled with a wide array of alcohol for any taste and tolerance.

Lance was in his element. He’d gotten to break out his best ‘respectable beach party’ clothes- deep blue linen shorts that showed off his long legs, a tank top in a softer blue that made his eyes pop, topped with a white short sleeved button down with a not-too-busy pattern of anchors that did great things for his skin and smile. Loverboy Lance was ready to break out the razzle dazzle… and maybe snag a date for Valentine’s Day. Beach, booze, music, family and friends all gathered in his beloved Cuba? It was pretty darn close to perfect. Even the pseudo-celebrity status he had as a Paladin of Voltron was adding just the right amount of attention among people who’d either known him as a kid, or who were friends of friends familiar enough with his family not to get starstruck or weird.

He drank and danced and flirted his way through a good chunk of the guest list before managing to get past the dance floor to check on his own guests. Shiro and Keith were chatting with James and someone he didn’t recognize at a picnic table that sat about halfway between the fire and the water, away from most of the noise and bustle. Even the new guy was stupidly good-looking. Jesus- they looked like some kind of booze ad in a magazine! Maybe he’d have an easier time getting a date for Valentine’s Day if he didn’t spend so much time standing next to freaking heroic models. He grabbed fresh beers out of a cooler as he passed it, a huge smile on his face. 

“It’s nice to see you so at home,” Shiro said by way of greeting as Lance passed around the beers. “Curtis, this is Lance. Lance, Curtis, one of the Bridge crew.” 

He wiped his hand on his shorts to get rid of any water from the ice and shook Curtis’ hand. “Hi Curtis, nice to meet you!” He said brightly, “are you having fun?”

“Yeah. I really am.” Curtis looked around, “looks like your parents are pretty popular. I’m glad Veronica insisted I come.”

Lance laughed, “well, if you were invited by Veronica you didn’t really have much of a choice. My family has lived here for generations, lots of community ties.”

“Your parents are pretty awesome, though,” James pointed out. “You’d be hard pressed to find kinder people,” he explained to Curtis.

“I like’em,” Lance quipped, smiling at James. He still wasn’t sure how James had ended up such good friends with Veronica and his family, but he was getting kind of used to it- which was weird… and something he’d think about when he was SOBER, not now. He set one foot on the bench of the picnic table and used it as a footrest, planting his ass onto the table between Keith and James and across from Shiro with one fluid motion. “So, Mullet?” He elbowed Keith playfully, “what do you think of Cuba? NOW do you see why I was so homesick?”

Keith looked around, eyes skimming past Lance to take in the boisterous crowd behind them, the fire, the dunes, and then swung back to linger on the water. “It’s beautiful here,” he said after a moment, “I’ve never actually been this close to the ocean before.”

“What?!?! Are you kidding? Never?” He twisted to face Keith.

“Not unless it was when I was too little to remember,” he answered with a shrug. 

“That’s… heartbreaking.” Annnd, so… okay, maybe the hug was a bit much, but Lance was too tipsy to really care about that. It was just so sad to him- the ocean was so deeply entwined with everything that made him, HIM. He couldn’t imagine never even getting close to it. If he’d had any clue that Keith had NEVER seen the ocean before, he’d have dragged him here ages ago.

“You should see it during the day,” James said, his voice odd, “that’s when it will really steal your heart.”

“Yes! Excellent idea!” He sat up straighter, dragging Keith as he did so. Keith made a little squawk as he was pulled off-balance and fell against Lance’s side. Lance barely noticed, because he was slinging one arm over James’ shoulders and yanking him into a poorly executed group hug. “I’m a total sucker for the beach at night, but a beautiful day here? It’s a must-see! You need to come here for a beach day sometime. We can go swimming. You like swimming!”

“Alright,” Keith answered, taking a swig of his bear and shifting his weight slightly, “not sure how much I’d like swimming in the ocean, though. I’m more of a pool guy.”

“Given how you fly- you’d probably love surfing, though,” pointed out James. He’d braced his hand on the table behind Lance and curled forward a little to talk to Keith. 

Which was roughly when Lance realized that he’d somehow ended up sandwiched between them, his arms wrapped around BOTH of the guys he’d been crushing on since back in his flight school days. SHIT! He couldn’t even distract himself by taking a drink, because of it. All of a sudden he didn’t know what to do! His mouth went dry, his heart rate went into overdrive and he felt his circulatory system start rerouting blood flow in embarrassing ways. Was he blushing? He felt like he was blushing. Probably just the booze, though… or at least, he could pretend it was the booze. But he was DEFINITELY glad that his linen shorts were dark and loose and forgiving of the other immediate result of his circulation shift. He swallowed against the entire beehive that has spontaneously formed where his lungs had previously been. Shit. Was he swallowing too much? How long had he been frozen? Had anyone noticed? Was he busted?

“-wondered about the appeal of surfing,” Keith was saying, “I kind of figured it was like skateboarding on water.”

“You got it backwards,” he said- too loud, his voice cracking a little, making him cringe, “skateboarding is a pale copy of surfing.”

Shiro snorted and took a swig of his beer, and when Lance peeked at him, he rose an eyebrow and smirked as much as he could while taking a drink. Dammit. He glanced over at Curtis only to see that the new guy was studiously looking anywhere but at him.

“I’m with Lance on this one,” James said and Lance nearly choked… ‘with Lance’... of COURSE he would phrase it that way! 

Shiro cleared his throat and pinned Lance with a knowing gaze. Oh yeah. Shiro DEFINITELY figured it out, and Lance sent up a slightly-drunk prayer that Shiro would forget about it because he was way more shit-faced than he seemed. Or if he didn’t forget, he’d at least have the mercy not to say anything to KEITH about it. Hoping to sway the odds in his favor, Lance sent him a desperate plea with his eyes to pity his pining ass.

“You surf?” Keith asked James.

James nodded, “my Dad had a summer house in Cape Cod. I grew up surfing there. I’ve been surfing with Vero a few times. I’m rusty,”

“I didn’t know Veronica surfed,” Curtis mused.

“Well, we grew up a ten minute walk from the beach.” Rachel’s voice made Lance jump. When he spotted her heading towards them, she was less than ten feet away, a basket on her hip. “Not many people around here that didn’t learn to surf as kids. Hey guys! Lance,” she smiled impishly and he glared. “I’m collecting empties, so chug-chug-chug,” she laughed, winking at them, “not really. Just checking to see if you have any.”

Between the five of them they gathered up all the empties from around the table. When Lance sat down again, he chose the bench and he could have sworn both Shiro and Rachel stifled a laugh. Smug jerks.

“Alright, I’m off again. James? You brought your guitar, right?” She was already walking backwards toward the crowd when he nodded, taking a swig of his beer, and she grinned, “great! Expect to get pulled up there soon. Gotta sing for your supper or whatever.” She turned and picked up her pace, empty bottles clinking.

“I never said anything about singing!” James called after her, but she just waved over her head at him.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Griffin,” chided Curtis, “you’ve been holding out on us. Surfer. Plays guitar. Sings. Who knew you were the star of a cheesy teen beach movie! It’s like the ‘girl magnet trifecta’!”

“Did you have a giggling fan base?” teased Keith, “girls falling all over you while you played your guitar sitting on your surfboard and sang sad, romantically tragic songs?”

“Yeah,” James said drily, his eye roll visible even in the low light, “something like that.”

Lance laughed, “solid strategy, really.”

“Yeah, laugh it up, McClain. I’m not the one that sang for the Pope.”

“What’s this now?” Shiro whipped around, “the POPE??”

“No!” Lance yelped, “oh God, they showed you the damn video, didn’t they?”

“Hell yeah they did!” James laughed, “turns out that little Lancey here had the voice of an angel once upon a time.”

“Fuck, I hate you right now,” Lance muttered.

“An ANGEL, huh?” Keith’s face was positively evil. “Do you still have the voice of an angel, Lancey.”

“Fuck off,” he groaned, burying his face in his hands.

“The whole family were in the church choir growing up. But Lance here? He was something special.”

“Special fits,” nodded Keith, his tone taunting.

“Okay- enough. The Pope came to Cuba. I was one of the boys selected to be in the choir that performed at the Mass he led. It’s not like I was some kind of celebrity that was summoned to sing for him or anything!”

“You had a solo!” 

“Shut UP, Griffin!” Shiro dissolved into laughter, “you, too, Shiro!”

“You know they are going to make you sing, right?” James said, shifting gears slightly.

“Who is?”

“Your family, man. I’ve heard so many stories about you guys busking for money during tourist season. There’s no way they aren’t making you sing with them. Not tonight.”

“Why ‘not tonight’?” Lance was confused, and more than a little worried.

“Because it’s their anniversary and they missed you,” he said it like it was obvious… and.. Yeah… it kind of was. Damn, he really should have expected that.

“Shit,” he raised his beer to his lips and chugged the remainder. “I am too sober for that shit.”

“I would never have expected you to know so much about Lance, James,” Shiro said… because he was an ASSHOLE, Lance was discovering. “I didn’t know Lance was a busker. Keith? Did you know that Lance used to be a busker?”

“Depends- what’s a busker?”

“Like- a street performer,” Curtis answered.

“Then, no. I didn’t.”

“I’ve been friends with Vero for ages. I’ve heard allllll the stories,” James said with a shrug.

“Right,” Lance stood, “time for me to make the rounds and drink some more liquid courage. You guys should get some dancing in before it gets too late and things heat up out there.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Lance! Lance!” a vaguely familiar face waved him over and as he got closer he realized it was Kara, the younger sister of one of Veronica’s exes. With the weird time glitches that Voltron had experienced, she would now be a year older than him, instead of a bit younger. “We’re doing shots! Guys, this is Lance, Veronica’s brother. Lance, these are my friends Selena, Rose, Angie and Claire.”

“Heyyy!” they chorused as if in one voice.

“Hey! You guys having fun?” he asked, flashing them a flirty smile.

“So much fun!” Angie enthused.

“Hey, you look kinda familiar,” Claire leaned in close to his face, blinking at him blearily.

“He looks like Rachel and Marco,” Kara cut in and he nodded his thanks at her. 

“Oh my GOD! He does!” Claire reacted like this was some kind of revelation, that siblings might resemble each other. How drunk WAS she? “You like tequila, Lance?”

“Do IIIIIII like tequila, she asks,” he laughed, “I do! I do like tequila! I like it even better when pretty girls are sharing it with me.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Hey, stranger!” A hand landed on his shoulder and he startled, whipping around to see who was talking to him. “Remember me?”

“Oh my GOD! Chloe!” He crowed, catching her in a hug and spinning her around. He and Chloe had been inseparable until she’d moved away when they were seven, both of them tagging along after Veronica or having adventures without her. “What are you doing here??”

“Your mama let me know about the party. I was in town visiting my abuelita, so I decided to drop by. I couldn’t miss the chance to see you!”

“This is the best surprise! Come on, let me get you a drink!”

“I’m not drinking, but I’d love a dance with my oldest friend?”

“You got it!” He tossed back the last of… whatever was in his red solo cup… and dropped it into one of the trashbags they passed on the way to the dance floor.

One dance turned into like, four, and then they’d found a bench near a cooler and got all caught up while he taste tested the various coolers that no one seemed to be drinking.

“Maybe you should slow down a bit,” she laughed at him.

“I’m good,” he assured her, “these aren’t that strong. Hey! You should give me your number!”

“I did that already, Noodle,” she shook her head and pointed to his phone.

“You di- ohhh look at that! You DID! An’ I’m not a Noodle anymore!” he scowled.

“Too bad. You’ve been Noodle as far back as I can remember- you’re stuck with it forever. Sorry.”

“That sucks! I don’t still call you-”

“LANCE!” Luis appeared out of nowhere, “time for the anniversary gift! Oh, hey Chloe! I’m going to steal him away. Time for him to sing with us.”

“I don’wanna sing!” Lance grumbled, as his older brother manhandled him off the bench and shoved him in the direction of the stage. “BYE CHLOE! Hey! Luis! I know! I can jus’play the tin whistle!”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The first THREE songs he was able to get away with playing the tin whistle and didn’t have to sing. For the fourth he wasn’t so lucky, but he was a tad more sober… which may or may not have been a good thing. It was a kind of wobbly line between liquid courage and sloppy drunk. 

“Okay, okay.. Geez!” he muttered as Luis marched him up to the mic stand. He swatted at his brother until he backed off and then he fiddled with the height of the mic. “Ummm… hi e’erybuddy! So… uh… first I want to thank e’eryone for coming tonight. S’really nice to see that s’many people care s’much about my parents and want to celebrate wif them.” He cleared his throat and glanced around, his stage fright dissipating a little, “sooo… I’m Lance, the baby of the family, an’they definitely saved all the best genes for me. Kidding. Kidding. So, yeah… I’ve… ummm… missed a few of these, so they’re making me sing. And, right off the bat- I’m sorry.” He laughed, “I am so rusty, and nowhere near as talented as everyone else who has been up here tonight. Hopefully, my siblings take pity on me and play something-” Luis called out the song title. “Nope. Okay, yeah REALLY sorry about this. My siblings are jerks- this is a really tough song! Plus it is Mom’s favorite- I’m really sorry if I wreck this, Mama!”

He heard the beat get counted off and the music start and closed his eyes. “Sing along if you know it. I could use the help,” he said playfully before the lyrics started and he got caught up in singing. 

He wasn’t thrilled with his performance, but he hadn’t forgotten any of the words and had even managed to hit the most challenging notes. It was… karaoke decent. But his mother had nearly knocked him over when she ran up to hug him after he was done, which meant she liked it, and that was all that mattered really. 

He and his siblings cleared the stage to make room for others and he had a glass of champagne with the family and didn’t even complain about all the shoulder punches and hair mussing he got from them. They took about five thousand selfies before Shiro tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey! I’m headed out. It’s getting a bit late for me. Thanks for the invitation!”

“Yeah, of course! Sorry there wasn’t more notice. Thanks for coming. You deserve a night off, too. Guys! Shiro’s leaving.” His family enveloped Shiro in a chaos of good-byes- more hugs than the guy was used to, but he handled it well. 

It took several minutes, but eventually Shiro was shaking his father’s hand warmly. “Congratulations again on your anniversary, Mr. McClain, Mrs. McClain. I’m so glad I got to be part of it.”

“Dude,” Lance laughed, hip checking him, “you’re family now. Chill.”

“He’s right,” his mother said, beaming at him, “you are Lance’s family, so you are our family. Now, get home safe and make sure to drink lots of water before you turn in.”

“Okay, okay Mom, he’s a grown man, he knows how to avoid a hangover.” 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“James is about to play,” Rachel informed him when he left the dancefloor.

“Rache, don’t,” he warned.

“I’m not doing anything!” she protested holding her hands up in surrender, “I’m just letting you know because Curtis left while you were dancing, and Shiro’s already gone.”

“Yeah… and?”

“And those sorority girls with the tequila shots are eyeing Keith like he’s a buffet… the guy looks like he’s one more giggle away from bolting into the ocean.”

“Okay… valid point. He doesn’t do well with flocks of flirting girls. I’ll go save him.” Very valid point. Keith absolutely was a buffet. 

He grabbed a couple of beers and headed over to Keith, “hey Samurai! Thirsty? Hi guys! Lemme see if I remember your names! Ummm.. Clara?”

“Claire.”

“Yes! Claire! And you are… ummm… Angie, and you’re Selena… which means you’re Rose,” he smiled at them and poked Kara in the shoulder, “and I’m not gonna forget your name, Supergirl.”

“Lance!” she swatted him, rocking on her feet drunkenly, “you’re the WORST!”

“The worst? Or the best?” he asked, leaning in to smirk at her and using it as an excuse to help steady her with a hand on her shoulder.

“The worst sounds pretty accurate,” Keith supplied earning himself a glare from Lance.

“Hey Buddy! I brought you a BEER!”

“Fair enough,” Keith shrugged, “he’s maybe not the WORST.”

Lance rolled his eyes, “so much better. Listen Supes, I gotta steal him away for a bit… uhhh… work? Stuff? Buuuut… I think I heard something about a beer pong game over by the dunes?”

“Beer pong?” the other girls chorused. That was really unnerving. “I love beer pong!”

He waved as they wandered off in search of the nonexistent game. Who played beer pong at the end of a bonfire party on the beach? Nobody, that’s who. 

“That was… actually pretty smooth,” Keith laughed.

“I speak drunk,” Lance assured him. “Hey,” he nodded toward the stage, “beach movie is about to start.”

“What? Oh! James,” he smirked, opening his beer, “think he’s any good?”

Lance sat beside him, “probably. He’s like Veronica.”

“Huh?”

“Oh… just… one of those people that seem to be good at everything,” he shrugged, getting started on his own beer. “Although… he sucks at racing games. So… you know… that’s a comfort.”

“You did good up there,” Keith said, “maybe you are the same way.”

“Me?” He shook his head, “definitely not…. And… yup… Listen. What did I tell you? He’s good.”

“Shit. Yeah, he is.” Keith dug something out of his pocket and handed it to Lance.

Lance blinked at the flask in his hand. “What’s this?”

“That is some of that Arusian wine you like. Mom brought some back with her after the last mission. I stole a bit.”

“Stolen wine? You stole wine from your Mom?” He laughed, “I feel fifteen again. You delinquent!”

“Yeah, well,” he shrugged, “I haven’t heard alllll the stories, but I think I know you pretty well.”

“Thanks, man,” he set his beer aside and opened the flask. “I’ll split it with you. You know… to complete the whole fifteen again motif.”

“Cool.” Keith rolled his eyes, but he smiled and nodded, leaning against Lance a little. “I like this song.”

“Me, too.” Keith wasn’t a touchy guy. Not like Lance, or Hunk, or even Coran. So, even knowing he was drinking, and even knowing that Keith had been getting a smidge more comfortable with casual affection, it was really hard not to read into stuff like this… especially when Lance liked him SO MUCH that there was always some part of him ready to read EVERYTHING into even the tiniest things. He stole a glance at the amazing guy beside him and just let himself enjoy the closeness for a moment before bringing his attention back to the other amazing guy that was absolutely KILLING IT up on that stage. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

He was not alone when he woke up. Which was… not good, because he had no recollection of anything happening that might have led to sharing a bed with someone. How drunk had he gotten last night? Gingerly, he opened his eyes to a thankfully dim room. He fished his phone out from under him where it had been digging into his side and glanced at the time. Ten am. Not terrible.

Moving slowly, he rolled out of the bed and up onto his knees. Then he took a deep breath and looked to see who he was sharing a bed with. His blood froze in his veins at the familiar form and it took a few seconds for his brain to remind him to look for context cues. He was in his own room. They were both fully dressed. He could hear the murmur of voices and smell breakfast being prepared. There was a glass of water and two headache tablets on each nightstand- thank God, because it tasted like something DIED in his mouth and his head felt like an overripe melon. He downed the pills and drained the water, letting his brain catch up. 

Memories of being steered through the house and helped up the stairs started to come into focus. Being dropped onto the bed. A voice patiently repeating that there was water and pills. A different voice asking if he needed a bucket. His insistence that he didn’t and the first voice confirming that ‘he’s not a puker’. Woot! First voice had his back! The room spinning. Dropping one foot to the floor to stop it and hearing laughter. Heavy, irregular footsteps then quiet darkness. Girly laughter. Flirty giggles and deeper feminine chuckles. Loud shushing and murmured voices. The mattress shifting. An arm dropping across his back.

Okay, good. Nothing had happened, then. Not even a kiss. Thank God! He changed out of his extremely rumpled clothes and into a pair of cotton pajama bottoms in the bathroom, not wanting to risk waking his bed-mate, and headed downstairs. The shower could wait until the painkillers had kicked in. Food was much more pressing a concern and the smell of bacon and eggs and coffee was too good to resist. Keith and James were both sitting at his kitchen table eating breakfast and suddenly the memory of how he’d gotten to bed made sense. He was on a roll for piecing things together! 

“Good morning!” his mother chirped pleasantly, keeping her voice down. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay. Just… need some food in my stomach and a little time.” He pulled out a chair and sat. It wasn’t fair- he looked like hell but both James and Keith looked like they’d just gotten back from a freaking spa day. Didn’t they get hangovers? “Thanks for getting me back here last night, guys.”

“It was… entertaining,” chuckled James. 

“Been awhile since I’ve seen you get that drunk,” Keith added, smirking. “Not since the Gala.”

“Oh God, the Gala,” Lance groaned, “that was a mess! I was definitely more drunk that time.”

“I’ll take that for you Mrs. McClain… What happened at the Gala?” James asked, taking the plate from Lance’s mother and sliding it down the table to Lance.

“Romelle,” Lance muttered, “Romelle is what happened… and thanks.”

“I’m... confused…”

“He wanted to talk to Allura in private,” Keith snorted, “and so he’d take a shot of ‘liquid courage’ and go find her… but…”

“Romelle just KEPT showing up,” he shook his head and immediately regretted it. “Owww…”

“And eventually alllll those shots caught up to him, and he passed out in his Lion. I had to get Kosmo to flash me inside to make sure he was safe,” Keith finished.

“Awww, sweetheart,” his mother cooed, holding out a mug to him, “you and your big heart!”

“It wasn’t like that, Mom,” he insisted, accepting the coffee she offered with a grateful sigh.

“It was definitely like that,” countered his supposed friend, earning a glare.

“You don’t know everything, Kogane,” he muttered.

“I know the star-crossed saga of Lance and Allura pretty well.”

He snorted. Keith had no idea. None of them did, really. Nobody had really seemed to notice the way that his relationship with Allura had changed over time. It was like it was frozen at the point where he’d had a hopeless crush on her for the others, but they’d moved beyond that ages ago.

“What am I missing?” James sounded perplexed.

“I had a thing for her,” Lance answered.

“HAD?” echoed Keith. 

Shit! RED ALERT! Back-up! How had he forgotten that it was KEITH he was talking to?!?! He scrambled to come up with some kind of explanation. But he didn’t have to, because Keith had already drawn his own conclusions.

“Is this why you decided not to ask her out for Valentine’s Day? You’re trying to move on?”

“I don’t want to talk about Allura,” he muttered, keeping his face canted away from Keith’s gaze. “And I don’t even want to THINK about Valentine’s Day!”

His mother squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, but he didn’t have her full attention, she kept circling the table and glancing at the stairs. “Every broken heart still beats, and every beating heart has love to offer.”

“Mom? Are you alright?”

“Yes, yes… I’m fine.” She brushed her hands on her apron and bustled away from the doorway. “Your sister is an adult. It’s fine. I’m just… going to go check on the laundry.”

He watched his mother in confusion as she practically ran to the laundry room. “Do either of you know…” he trailed off.

“There are a pair of unfamiliar shoes in the entryway,” James whispered. “She’s been hovering.”

Lance laughed, “oh man… Mom’s freaking out because she thinks Veronica hooked up and has someone in her room?”

“Well, NOW she does,” Keith offered, “before we told her that we had to pour you into bed last night, she didn’t know if it was you or Veronica.”

“ME!?!?!” He gaped, “first of all, I would NEVER bring someone back here! Second of all, I am the baby- I’m going to be forty before she decides I’m an adult! Third of all, I would NOT be having random one nighters with someone who attended my parents’ anniversary party!! That’s just a nightmare waiting to happen!”

“But asking NYMA out for Valentine’s Day isn’t a nightmare waiting to happen.” He didn’t even have to look to know that Keith was rolling his eyes.

“Seriously, Mullet? You know I ditched that idea.”

“Nyma? The smuggler? Oh, man…” James shook his head, “Lance. Even *I* know that chick is bad news.”

Keith, feeling vindicated, bugged his eyes and flung his arm out, gesturing at James.

“Oh, don’t you start,” Lance warned, pointing his fork at him, “you think I didn’t hear all about your one-man-Rolo-fanclub from Hunk? Really? REALLY?”

“I had a conversation with the guy! You got tied to a tree and your Lion stolen!”

“Why are you even here?”

“Because I told him that since you’d promised to show him around and it is so rare for you all to get a real day off, he should stick around. It’s a beautiful day,” his mother scolded as she returned to the kitchen, eyes glancing to the stairs again.

“Oh, hey, Mama? The shoes? They belong to Acxa,” he said softly, “and I can’t believe this sentence is about to come out of my mouth as a REASSURANCE, but… she’s asleep in my bed. She’s been there all night as far as I can tell.”

“Acxa? Oh… yes… Acxa… Veronica’s… oh,” she smiled, relaxing, “alright.”

“I’m surprised she didn’t just climb onto the couch with me,” Keith mused.

“I’m not,” snickered James. “You kicked me for walking too close to you on my way to the love-seat!”

Lance’s eyes slid to Keith, looking for any trace of lingering nightmares. On the rare occasions that Keith would crash on a chair or couch, or the few times they’d ‘camped out’ on the surface of some planet on their way back home he’d either slept like the dead or slept like some kind of booby trap. Step too close and catch a limb for your trouble. Sometimes, on those nights, he’d eventually bolt upright with a strangled noise and if they were lucky, Kosmo or Krolia would be close by. 

This morning, he didn’t have that glassiness to his purple eyes that Lance had learned to watch for, so he decided it must have just been sleeping in an unfamiliar place that had kept him on edge. “At least it’s a comfy couch,” he said mildly, knowing that Keith would hate for anyone to delve too deep.

His phone buzzed on the table, startling everyone. “I wonder if that’s Coco,” Keith asked, and Lance froze.

“Coco?”

“Yeah- you kept talking about how Coco was supposed to text you and grabbing at your phone,” Keith explained.

Who-the-fuck-was-Coco?!?! 

“You REALLY wanted to text Coco,” James confirmed, “so… you’re welcome, because friends don’t let friends drunk text.”

He racked his brain… Coco? He didn’t KNOW anyone named Coco! Unless… blond hair… dancing like morons… dimples… His face lit up; another memory slotting into place. “Do you mean CloClo? Oh my God!” He grabbed his phone and checked the incoming messages. 

“She DID text!” Thumbs flying, he fired off a response.

“Ah,” Keith shook his head, his tone resigned, “THAT’S why the ‘Allura thing’ was past tense. Shoulda known.”

“Geez, McClain you fall like a rock, don’t you?” muttered James.

“I certainly hope not!” his mother’s voice was stern, disapproving.

“Mmm?” he looked up, blinking at his mother.

“Lance,” she crossed her arms over her chest, “NO! Not Chloe!”

“What? Oh! NO! Oh… ewwww… no, definitely not! Look!” He held his phone up to his mother, “she was supposed to text me when she got home, so we’d know she was safe.” 

His mother crossed herself and murmured a prayer in Spanish. “That’s my good boy,” she said, mussing his hair. 

He sagged back with relief, shaking his head- and immediately regretting it. “Owwww…” He drained his coffee, hoping the caffeine would help with the headache. “Chloe was Pidge before I knew Pidge,” he explained to Keith, “and now she’s married and expecting a ba-”

“WAKEY WAKEY!” Rachel yelled as she bustled into the house, making Lance cringe and drop his head to the table.

“Why? Why does she STILL do this??” he grumbled.

“Rachel!” their mother scolded, “if it was just your siblings sleeping it off, I wouldn’t stop you-”

“Yeah, thanks for that, Mama,” Lance snarked.

“Shush, Lance- but there is a GUEST still sleeping upstairs and I will not allow you to make me into a poor hostess!”

“Awww… poop!” Rachel deflated, but didn’t pout for long, “is there more bacon?” Keith and James snorted with laughter… because everyone he knew were assholes to hungover people.

Turning his attention back to his phone, he actually opened the NEW message, since Chloe’s had come in hours and hours ago. Shiro. Shiro? Why was Shiro texting him? Oh. Oh no. Ohhhh NO! Fighting panic, he tapped the screen. 

 

**O-Captain-My-Captain: You definitely have a type. You are aware of that, right?**

 

SHIT! Stupid tipsy group hug. Dammit dammit dammit. This was a nightmare! 

 

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: yup. Sux**

**O-Captain-My-Captain: hungover this morning?**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: lil bit**

 

“Who are you texting?” Rachel asked, peering over his shoulder. 

“Hey!” He slapped his hand over the screen, “RUDE! It’s Shiro. Checking to see if I have a hangover. Like a decent human being.”

“Tell him I said hi,” Keith said easily. Seriously?!?!? Somehow he needed to tell Shiro that Keith said hi in the middle of THIS particular conversation!?!? Like that wasn’t going to give the guy the wrong idea!

“Sure,” he answered, because there literally was no other option. It would be beyond weird to REFUSE to say hi!

 

**O-Captain-My-Captain: You should listen to your mother more. Drink water.**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: Excuse you! I hang off my Mama’s every word! She’s a saint who made bacon and eggs this morning for the houseful of crashers we have here. Keith says hi**

**O-Captain-My-Captain: from the breakfast table or…?**

 

He stared at the phone, unable to believe what he was reading. Behind him her heard Rachel snort. “I like him,” she said, voice deceptively calm, “Shiro, I mean. Doesn’t take himself too seriously.”

“Yeah, Shiro’s great,” he answered distractedly.

“What’s he saying anyway?” Keith asked and Lance’s heart nearly gave out.

“He’s telling me to listen to my mother?”

“Why is that a question?” James asked.

“Because Lance told me I didn’t need to remind him to drink water,” his mother supplied, a smug little grin on her face, “and then SOMEONE didn’t drink enough themselves… and probably forgot he said that.” Which settled it. They were ALL jackasses to hungover people.

 

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: SHIRO!**

**O-Captain-My-Captain: What? You were all drinking last night. No judgement from me.**

 

He took it back, Shiro was NOT ‘great’. Shiro was the WORST. He was going to die. He couldn’t have this conversation at the damn breakfast table with everyone looking at him and asking about it! 

 

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: Keith crashed on the couch**

**O-Captain-My-Captain: tell him I say hi**

**O-Captain-My-Captain: seriously though, all teasing aside. No judgement.**

**O-Captain-My-Captain: You need to talk, I’m here.**

**O-Captain-My-Captain: Any time. It won’t go any further.**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: got it thx**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: not a great time now tho**

 

He set the phone down after that and turned his attention back to the table just in time to see James smile at Keith and Keith smile at James and tuck a lock of that damn mullet behind his ear as he went back to eating. What the hell??!?! “Shiro says hi back,” he said, trying to keep his voice neutral.

“Hey Mama? You wanna help me with my research?” Rachel asked, “sooooo many people posted pictures and videos last night!”

“You aren’t STILL doing that, are you?” Lance shook his head at his sister.

“It’s the highlight of my year!” Rachel argued, “and I’ll have you know that I have an 80% success rate AND I have FOUR babies named after me now! I do good work!”

“Once the boys head out to the beach, sweetheart. Not before,” his mother answered.

“What’s happening?” asked Keith.

“Rachel is a matchmaker,” James said.

“Rachel is a nosy busybod- OW! Don’t smack me!”

“Like… professionally?”

She laughed, “no, not professionally. I just love love!”

“Oh yeah, she’s definitely your sister,” teased Keith.

“Because that was EVER in question,” Lance said drily gesturing between him and Rachel, “LOOK at us!”

“I just find people who are CLEARLY into each other and… kind of grease the wheels for them. I have good instincts… and I like it when people I care about are happy.”

“Some people are happy being single, Rache.”

“Then they wouldn’t be mooning over someone so much that I see it,” she countered.

“Whatever. I’m going to go get changed for the beach. Mom? Can we use the truck and the surf gear?”

“Of course, sweetheart. I’ll even pack you a lunch to bring with you,” she dropped a kiss to the top of his head. “James, Keith, we can loan you some clean clothes. I still have a lot of Luis and Marco’s swim shorts and tanks kicking around.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

So, Keith, unsurprisingly, fell in love with Cuba, because Lance knew him well enough to avoid the busier, louder areas and stick to the Cuba that felt like home to Lance. Quieter spots, out in nature. As much as Lance loved the people and the rich culture, he knew it would overwhelm Keith, who preferred solitude and the outdoors… and really, deep down, it was those places that soothed the hurts in Lance’s soul and restored the bits of him that he’d felt like had gotten chipped away by too many nights floating in the vacuum of space. It was important to him that Keith love Cuba, so he showed Keith the sides of Cuba that he would love first.

Also, unsurprisingly, Keith picked up surfing ridiculously easily… and James’ claims to be ‘rusty’ were pretty much BS. They spent several hours in the water at a private beach that was further away from the house than where they’d hosted the party, but was better suited to surfing and swimming. Lance had set up a ‘base camp’ of sorts for them when they’d arrived and one by one they’d had their fill of the water and made their way to the umbrella and blanket and cooler.

“All of your music is so OLD,” James grumbled, switching the speaker to his phone.

“Yeah, well, we were in space,” Lance pointed out. “We didn’t really have access to the hot new tracks.”

“Which is why we are listening to MY music now,” he countered, opening the cooler, “anyone want a sports drink?”

“I’m good,” Keith answered.

Lance took a red one and leaned back, “hey- Griffin? How the heck did you end up being such good friends with Veronica anyway?”

“Um… we kept ending up in the same places at the same time, mainly.” He replied, looking out over the water. 

“And what? You just… got used to being around her?” Keith sounded skeptical.

“No… it was…” He took a breath, “we ran the GSA together, and we were in the same bereavement group. Those were the biggies.”

“Bereavement group?” Lance asked, “what bereavement group?”

“When you were missing,” he answered, “the guidance counselor made her go to a bereavement group- which, by the way, she was very adamant about not needing because you were NOT dead… even though the whole thing was about learning to deal with someone not being in your life anymore, not really about death specifically. I was already going… family stuff.”

“Shit,” Keith said softly, “I didn’t know you’d lost someone. I’m sorry.”

“They’re still alive, don’t sweat it. I just don’t have anything to do with them anymore.” James answered, too quickly. “But… I owe you an apology. I had… no idea how over the line I was that day, Keith. I deserved that punch. I was going through shit and I was just… an asshole to everyone. Lashing out.”

“We were kids,” Keith said, brushing sand off his legs, “kids are idiots. Besides, I know a bit about lashing out.”

Lance stayed quiet, not wanting to interrupt the exchange, because despite how casually Keith was responding, Lance knew that he felt things much more deeply than he let people see. 

“Still, I’m sorry,” James said quietly, “and I am glad I got the chance to say that to you in person.”

“Yeah, okay. Fine,” Keith turned to look at him, “but I’m not going to apologize for decking you. As far as I’m concerned we’re cool now.”

‘I can live with that,” James smiled and Lance felt his heart skip a beat. His friend really was unfairly good-looking, especially when he was relaxed and smiling like that… annnnd that’s when he realized that sometime during all those morning meetings, James had stopped being VERONICA’s friend and started being HIS friend. Just like Keith had somehow become his friend sometime during their space adventures.

“So… uh… Veronica ran the GSA? I didn’t know the Garrison HAD a GSA,” he said, sensing that the other guys were done with their version of an emotional heart to heart.

“Veronica STARTED the GSA,” James laughed. “It was just me and her for a couple of weeks. Well, the two of us and Flight Instructor Wright. He was our faculty adviser.”

“Adam?” Keith gaped at him, “ADAM was the advisor for the GSA?”

James chuckled, “begrudgingly, but yeah. He kept complaining that if it was supposed to be a Gay Straight Alliance they could have assigned a straight faculty adviser.”

“Sounds like Adam… he… wasn’t the biggest fan of clubs.”

“Adam?” Lance asked softly, “like, Shiro’s Adam? Wow. It’s weird to remember just how small the Galaxy Garrison is. Everyone knowing everyone, I mean.”

“He warmed up to us,” James assured him, “well… not so much to me for a long time, but we got there eventually.”

“Weird… Shiro ended up with his own little de facto GSA in space,” Lance mused. “Well, we had Coran, too.”

“That Coran guy is… something else,” James laughed. 

“That’s one way to describe him,” Keith chuckled, “but he saved our asses more than once.”

“Yeah, Coran’s odd, but he’s solid… Just… don’t let him dress you.”

“Oh my God,” cackled Keith, “the stupid disguises he came up with for the space mall?”

“I looked damn good,” teased Lance, “you guys looked ridiculous!”

“You had glasses AND goggles!” Keith was genuinely laughing, big heaving belly laughs. The kind Lance had only ever seen a few times, and only around people Keith trusted. It looked like he wasn’t the only one who considered James a friend now.

“But I made it work!” he insisted, “whatever… let’s see what Mom packed us for food.” He rummaged through the cooler finding assorted fruits and sandwiches sealed in plastic bags and buried in the ice. “Oooh grapes! Heads up, Mullet!” he tossed them to Keith.

“I saw her stow watermelon in there, too,” James said helpfully, startling Lance with how close he was. Also- how did he make sunscreen smell so good? Focus, Lance. Focus. Focus. Beach. Food. Right! Food.

“Yeah… uh… okay, cool… You wanna try and find them while I sort out the sandwiches?” He pulled out the foil-wrapped sandwiches and sorted them by filling.

“James?” Keith asked, “why did you pick the GSA to pad your college application?”

James stilled, “that’s… I wasn’t padding my college application. I was in the GSA because I needed the support. My mom disowned me.”

Everything screeched to a halt. Lance froze, so many small comments and reactions from James, or his sister, or the MFE pilots suddenly taking on a whole new light and coming into focus. Shit. James... was… gay. 

“She fucking DISOWNED YOU?” Keith demanded, rage rolling off him, “people still fucking DO that?!?! Who the fuck does that???”

“Maryanne Griffin does, I guess,” James said, his voice remarkably calm as he continued to rummage through the cooler, “it’s whatever… I mean, it was shitty… but it was a long time ago, and my Dad was… well, not great, but decent about it and I had my friends… and then space invaders happened. Personal stuff like that seemed pretty minor compared to the Galra blowing up our cities.” 

“I’ll be back,” Keith muttered, gaining his feet and stomping towards the water.

“What… was that?” James asked after Keith dove into the waves. “I mean, he HAS to know that people still get kicked out and disowned and stuff for being gay… it’s not that uncommon.”

“Congratulations, you are officially one of the inner circle,” Lance said with a half-smile. “Keith…” he sighed, “he’s Keith. He has two immediate reactions to bad shit. Either he comes at it coldly and logically, all big picture… or… that.” He rolled his shoulder and nodded in the direction Keith went, “THAT means he gives a shit about you as an individual, and something bad happened so he’s furious at… whatever that was, or the world. It’s like… I don’t know. Maybe it’s a Galra thing? I’ve seen his mother shoot a tree when Romelle stubbed her toe on the root. He’ll be okay. When he comes back he’ll be normal… well, normal for Keith.”

“You guys… are pretty close, huh?” James asked carefully.

“Voltron is a tight bond. It’s hard to explain,” Lance flushed, knowing that he was dodging the question, because he honestly didn’t know the answer for sure. He’d LIKE to think that he and Keith were close, but even now, Keith could be hard to read, and his own giant crush put him in danger of seeing things through rose colored glasses. “I think he trusts me… outside of the job, I mean, at least.”

James snorted, lifting one hand to shade his eyes as he looked out over the waves, “I have a feeling that means the same thing. The guy is cagey as hell.”

“He’s better than he used to be,” Lance laughed, “but yeah. He on his way back yet?”

“I think so?” James shrugged, “hard to tell. I’ve never seen anyone angry-swim before.”

“That’s nothing, I’ve seen him manage to angry-nap… I didn’t think that was even possible, but… Kogane found a way!”

“Seriously?”

“Oh yeah… he was PISSED, I can’t even remember what he was so mad about… probably some dumb thing I said or a simulation kicked our asses or something. He was sitting there, all crossed arms and death glares and then Hunk elbowed me and I looked over and he was out like a light, still scowling and scrunched up and muttering away in his sleep.”

James blinked at him a few times then dissolved into laughter. The kind of laughter that Lance associated with children running away from a trusted adult pretending to be a monster. Like some kind of bubbling stream of joy and disbelief. It was utterly contagious. Holding his sides and gasping for breath, James looked over at Lance and it spread. Without really knowing why, Lance giggled, the sound leaking out and growing until he was as consumed with laughter as James was. They were still cracking up and fighting to breathe when Keith returned.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The dreams started that night, or rather, they came back… with some slight changes. Nothing explicit, nothing that would even qualify as ‘raunchy’. In all honesty, he’d have preferred if they were sex dreams. He knew how to ignore sex dreams. No, these were different. These were the kinds of dreams that had made space feel so damn lonely for him.

Mundane, boring even; these dreams were the insidious kind that didn’t really fade in the morning and didn’t really even register in the memory AS a dream right away. Dreams of waking to the scent of coffee and a cooling spot beside you. Dreams of inside jokes and fond, intimate smiles across a conference table or vidscreen. Dreams of lingering fingers and sparkling eye contact. Dreams of James taking his hand and pulling him closer even as he hushed him, the MFE pilot sitting on the couch with Keith napping in his lap, long fingers brushing inky clouds of hair back from pale skin. Dreams of arguing over crossword answers and trivia while drinking Arusian wine. 

Dreams so vivid and real that he’d get flashes of them during their morning pre-meeting get togethers and reality would feel like it hiccuped because it seemed so TRUE. He’d had dreams like that in the Castle of Lions, usually about Keith, sometimes Allura, rarely… both. He’d been spared them since they started their voyage home, but now they were back, and they were every bit as disconcerting. They got to him really fast- those little dreamland slices of domestic life- and they messed him up. They were dangerous, because he wanted what the featured. He wanted it SO BADLY. Bad enough that more than once, after a meeting when they’d be heading out he caught himself start to reach out to take James’ hand, or to link a pinkie finger with Keith’s without thinking.

Sometimes, one of them would say something, or smile a certain way and those damn dreams would flicker in his head and he’d think, for a fraction of an instant that maybe, just maybe… and then reality would right itself and he’d remember… and crash. He’d started making a point to seek out Hunk or Pidge after meetings, because it was just too tempting to tag along with either or both of them for a training session or to squeeze in some extra target practice, and the more time he spent with them, the more realistic the dreams got.

It was wearing him down- slowly and steadily eroding his sanity and self-control. The sympathetic and supportive looks Shiro kept giving him didn’t help, either. Neither did Rachel’s recent burst of match-making energy. Valentine’s Day was looming and he’d essentially given up on finding a date for his favorite holiday. It wasn’t easy to find the motivation to ask someone else out while he was SO caught up in pining after two of his friends. Not to mention that he was pretty certain he’d missed his window for ANY kind of reservation at a decent restaurant by this point.

So, when the plan to deliver ocean water samples to Mer for some kind of anti-pollution idea that people smarter than him had come up with had been mentioned, he nearly tripped over himself to volunteer. It would only take a few days and he LOVED Mer.

“I’m not sure splitting Voltron up is a prudent course of action,” Allura said carefully.

“Things are settling down within the Empire,” Krolia pointed out, “and Red is the fastest of the Lions, with a teleduv being an option once again, the difference in rally time from Mer compared to even just being on the surface is negligible. We can adjust our plans to add additional fighters to this portion of space for the duration of the time the Red Lion is away.”

“Lance is definitely the best choice to send to Mer,” Shiro mused.

“Are you sure about that?” Iverson asked, “he’s not a trained diplomat. We have people with a better skill set…”

“Lance SAVED Mer, they love him there! He’s a huge deal to them!” Hunk interrupted, “they see him as some kind of Superhero!”

“Thank-you, Hunk!” he beamed. He could always count on Hunk to have his back.

“They are a bit… over enthusiastic about him,” sighed Keith.

“Are they though?” Lance asked, waggling an eyebrow at his friend and plastering a cocky grin on his face. “Really? Are they? Are they really OVER enthusiastic? Really?”

“Yes,” Keith answered easily. “They are… and you weren’t the only one that saved them…”

“Of course I wasn’t! I never said I was! Hunk was awesome!”

“Thanks, man, but you and Blue had that awesome ice bea-”

“Can we try to avoid getting caught up in who did what?” Shiro interjected. “We will talk to Queen Luxia and see exactly what they will need in terms of samples, and how long we would be short a Lion. Once we have more information, we will discuss it again. Now, if that’s it… I think we all have a full day ahead of us.”

There were a few murmurs, but no one had any additional business, so the meeting was dismissed. Lance’s mood was better than it had been in days. The prospect of getting back to Mer, of seeing his friends there, was doing a lot to cheer him up. Add to that the fact that the mission was to try to help clean up Earth’s oceans after the damage done by Sendak and he was happily humming to himself.

“So, what’s Mer actually like?” James asked, startling him. Hadn’t he mentioned something about a flight simulation with the MFE squad after the meeting?

“Well, I haven’t been back since they unblocked the thermal vents, so it’s going to be different, but when we were there it was essentially an iced over ocean planet, the appeal is really the people.”

“Lance has a thing about mermaids,” Keith said drily, stretching out in his chair with his hands linked behind his head and smirking at him. 

He rolled his eyes and focused on the conversation, not their proximity, “every kid who grew up by the ocean wanted to meet mermaids someday.”

“Did they live up to the dream?” James’ voice was teasing as he leaned against the conference table, crossing his ankles. Really, universe? Really!?!? James just HAD to mention dreams?!?! REALLY?!?!

“Uhhhh… well… I ended up hypnotized, then kidnapped, then I had to wear a jellyfish on my head, and fight Hunk… it was a whole thing, but,” he smiled, “yeah. After we got everything dealt with, they really did. Some of them are really lovely, others are… great in other ways. Like Swirn and Blumfump. They remind me of… like a combo of Pidge and Coran, maybe?”

“I’m not sure that’s a good combination.”

“They’re hard to explain… but I like them,” he answered with a shrug. “They’re brave. They kept fighting to free their people when the entire rebellion had been whittled down to just the three of them. They deserve credit for that.”

“What did you think of Mer, Keith?”

“I’ve never been there,” Keith answered, “we were kind of scattered all over the place when Hunk and Lance ended up on Mer.”

“The wormhole started to collapse while we were inside it,” he added, “it was weird.”

“That’s… something that can happen?” James asked.

“Rarely,” answered Keith, his voice oddly chipper. Lance stole a glance. Keith’s posture had stiffened, there was tension in his brow and jaw, and his eyes were… too focused. Something was bugging him. It wasn’t something about Mer, he’d been chilled out talking about the water planet. Was it the wormhole talk? Orrr… oh. They’d been scattered… and Shiro had been injured with only Keith there to help.

He stood, clapping a hand on Keith’s shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze as he crossed behind him, “the important thing is that Pidge managed to track us down and we all ended up okay.”

“Yeah,” Keith replied, seeming a little more at ease, rising as well, “the REAL story is what was going on with the Castle while we were separated. You should ask the Princess about it sometime!”

“Oh my God! With the mustache? I can’t believe there’s no security footage of that,” laughed Lance.

“Right?!?! And the undercut?? I’d pay good GAC to see that undercut!” chimed in Keith.

“The what? What about a mustache? Why is there an undercut? Shit! I’m late! You’ll have to tell me later!” James pushed passed them on the way out of the room, hurrying down the corridor.

“Ask ALLURA!” they chorused after him. It really was one of her best stories.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The very next day, Lance was leaning against Red’s massive paw, ensuring that the various samples and supplies were being stowed away without irritating his Lion further. LANCE might be excited about visiting Mer, but RED was decidedly not. “Quit your grumbling, ‘Guardian of Fire’,” Lance teased, “it’s not like you can drown. Mer is a lovely planet with wonderful, BRAVE people. You can deal with some water, geez…”

“Talking to your Lion?” James’ voice startled him, and the smile he was sporting wasn’t helping his heart-rate settle, either, “is this like a normal thing? Or should I be worried about you?”

“James! Hey,” he levered away from Red, then realized that he should have stayed put, because now he was just going to fidget awkwardly. “What are you doing here?”

James held out a data tablet. Oh good! Something to occupy his hands! That was something, at least. “Some kind of questionnaire from Dr. Holt regarding plankton or something? I don’t know, she started talking about aquatic plants and CO2 scrubbing and I mentally teleported right back to like sixth grade science class.”

“What? YOU aren’t endlessly fascinated by alien plant life?” he feigned shock, then laughed. Red huffed at being ignored, and then sent a trill of emotion to Lance that felt decidedly like being teased about his crush. It was a sensation he was used to- Red seemed to be endlessly amused by his crush on Keith, too.

“Not really, no,” James answered, “any possible interest I might have ever had was burned out by Ryan’s stupid yeast project.”

“Yeast aren’t plants, they’re fungi,” Lance said idly, skimming through the data from Colleen. “Huh, this is kind of interesting…”

“You understand that stuff?”

He half shrugged, “kinda? My family has a farm, and I’ve always been fascinated with the ocean… so this kind of stuff was more… uh… like, relevant to my life, I guess? Back when I was in school it was, anyway. I guess it just… stuck better than some things.” He exited out of the report, most of it was WAY beyond his comprehension. “So, this is what happens when things are quiet? The leader of the MFEs gets pressed into errand duty?”

“I wasn’t busy,” he waved the question off. “You never did answer whether you talk to your Lion all the time or not…”

Lance laughed, patting the somehow-always-warm metal of Red’s paw, “yeah, kinda. Not always out loud, but there is generally a kind of conversation going on. We all do. We even talk to each other’s Lions- but they don’t usually answer. He’s… not a big fan of this mission.”

“He? Okay. Why isn’t he a fan? It seems pretty straight forward.”

“Yeah, but it’s not very exciting… and it means we won’t be here to have Black’s back if there’s a fight- even though Red knows better than anyone that Keith is solid… but MAINLY, Mer is wet. Red doesn’t like WET.”

“Would it help to tell… uh, him… that the MFEs will be deployed alongside the Lions if there is an incident?”

Lance laughed, “no offence, but probably not. You’ve seen how Keith is about Shiro? Red’s worse about Black. Big love for the big kitty.” He felt a rush of indignation, and rolled his eyes, “pardon me… big love for ALL the kitties. He loves his pride. I think he worries about Black more because Keith was his Paladin first. Blue seems more protective of me than, say, Hunk.”

“I never really thought about them having personalities like this,” James said, “I mean, I knew they were… kind of sentient. I’ve seen the bond you all have with them… but… this whole, conversation and disagreement thing wasn’t something that even occurred to me.”

“Yeah… it’s kind of weird. I usually think of them as being, like, siblings to each other?” He shrugged, “like, Black is the bossy big brother, and Red usually has his back, but he’s kind of a hot head and he is SUPER protective, Yellow is calm and steady and like, the voice of reason. Yellow is the guy making sure that if they going to go do the stupid thing, they are going to go in prepared and if someone goes down, Yellow is all about keeping them safe. Green is… kind of the know-it-all smartass scrapper kid sister. So… Pidge, basically. Blue,” he sighed, “she’s my girl. She’s all heart. Don’t mess with her family, but she’s really friendly and wants everyone to get along.”

“You realize you just described your family, right?” James laughed. “Black- Luis. Yellow- Marco. Green- Vero. Blue- Rachel. Red- you.”

“Then I did a REALLY bad job describing them!” Lance shook his head, “or you see my siblings differently than I do. I’m more like Blue, anyway.”

“If you say so,” James answered, although he didn’t sound convinced. “Should I… say hi? To the Lion directly, I mean.”

“Sure, if you want to,” he replied with a chuckle, “not sure how much of a reaction you’ll get, though.”

Awkwardly- which was adorable, because he’d never actually SEEN James be awkward before and it was stinkin’ cute as all get out!- James set his hand on the Lion, just a few inches from where Lance’s own hand was resting. He tipped his face up, and damn that shy little nervous smile was doing THINGS to Lance. Things that had Red’s presence rolling through him, full of teasing affection and amusement. “Uhhh… Hi,” he started, his eyes darting to Lance, who just gave him an encouraging smile. “I’m… James? Not sure if you care about names, but that’s mine.”

Okay, Lance might actually swoon from how adorable James was when he was flustered, and he seemed to be winning Red over, too. He nodded, a tiny, supportive movement. “So far, so good,” he whispered.

James’ eyebrows quirked and he licked his lips nervously, “okay, uh… Thank-you… for protecting Earth… and keeping those two idiots in one piece-”

“Hey! Keep it up and I’m revoking Lion access!” Lance squawked, indignant, “no insulting the Paladins!”

“Fine… thank-you for keeping those two RECKLESS Paladins from doing something stupid and suicidal.” He turned his head to smirk at Lance, “better?”

“Much,” he laughed, “but I’ve seen you do some reckless shit, too… and heard about more.”

James snorted, keeping his attention on the Lion. “I hope they are more sensible than they were as cadets… You must be incredibly patient to have first Keith and then Lance as a Paladin, because from what I remember from-”

“Oh, okay! That’s enough, Griffin,” Lance grumbled, straightening his spine and reaching out to knock James’ hand off the Lion. He scowled good-naturedly, “you spend too much time with my sister! Ugh. You want a tour of Red or not?”

“A tour? I didn’t know a tour was an option…”

“You coming or not?” he asked rather than answer that, because he hadn’t known it was an option either until the words were out of his mouth.

“Lead the way.”

As big as the Lions were, they made for a pretty boring tour. Ramp, a few holding areas, a little makeshift bunk area, and then they were in the cockpit. Lance dropped into the pilot’s seat, an uncomfortable memory of showing Blue off to Nyma drifting through his mind. The seat slid into position and the various screens and H.U.D.s flickered to life, the cockpit taking on that familiar red cast from the light.

“Wow- I can’t believe this is ten thousand year old tech,” James breathed, “the Alteans were so advanced!”

“Allura’s father was some kind of genius, that’s for sure,” Lance agreed, “Voltron… the bayards… all his work.”

“He was the first Red Paladin, right?”

“Yup, the original. Big shoes to fill,” he fiddled with the settings until he pulled up some training screens. “Alright, so this screen is for long range targeting, this one is for mapping my relative position to other Lions… and you guys show up there, too, which is handy. Umm… Oh! This is for short range fighting, claws and mouth-blade. I use these to steer… it’s all pretty straightforward really.”

“Seems really intuitive,” James observed, “in terms of layout and stuff, and there is so much more room than in the MFEs!”

“Yeah, you guys all look so squashed in those things!” Lance smiled at James, enjoying the chance to show off his super cool robot Lion. James grinned back, suitably impressed. God, he had a really great smile. “Uh…” he cleared his throat, realizing that the whole smiling thing had gone on almost long enough to be weird. “And… of course… this all re-configures when we form Voltron… but again, pretty intuitive and straightforward.”

“And you and your Lion work together, right? What happens if you don’t agree on what to do?”

“Ugh- that’s a real headache! Most of the time we are all pretty much on the same page, but there were definitely some rocky points early on…” Relaxing, he regaled James with some of his favorite ‘learning to Voltron’ stories, being careful to stick to ones that weren’t ESPECIALLY embarrassing for any of the team.

Before he knew it, the loading was done and it was time for him to start heading out. He walked James down to the bottom of the ramp, he had to sign off on some paperwork anyway.

“Oh! I almost forgot,” James fished a data stick out of his pocket. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and cleared his throat before he offered it up. “New music. I… uh…. I thought that… um… I kinda thought you might want to show your friends on Mer what Earth music sounds like, or whatever.”

“You… got me new music?” Lance asked. Like… a mixtape? Like THAT kind of ‘here’s some music’? No. No way. It had to be more like ‘please god, don’t make me listen to your old music when we are all hanging out anymore’. Right? Because the whole mixtape thing would imply…. So. NO. Definitely not that. That’s ridiculous. Stupid dreams. Stupid crush. 

“Well, yeah,” James answered, fidgeting, “you guys are slammed all the time, so it’s not like you have many chances to hit a dance club or veg out and listen to the latest singles or anything... and all your music is like at least five years old.”

“Oh, yeah.” So, NOT a mixtape. He knew it. “Okay, cool. I’ll check it out!”

“It was actually kind of fun picking songs I thought you’d like and stuff.” James smiled again and pressed the data stick into Lance’s hand… and like, Lance KNEW he should say something, but his brain just wouldn’t provide words… because… THAT? That absolutely sounded like it was a MIXTAPE mixtape… and HOLYFUCKINGSHIT WAS THIS A MIXTAPE MIXTAPE?!?!? From JAMES GRIFFIN!?!? 

So, he just stood there, like a MORON until he finally managed to close his fingers around the damn data stick. Once that happened, it was like whatever stall had occured in his brain cleared itself and he managed to stammer out something he hoped wasn’t too mortifying, because he really wasn’t sure what words actually fell from his lips, let alone whether they were in a coherent order.

James wasn’t looking at him like he had five heads, though, so… good sign? The sheer evil glee pouring off of Red in waves of what could ONLY be laughter wasn’t really reassuring, though. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” he muttered to the Lion under his breath, turning to head back up the ramp when he caught sight of James giving him a casual wave as he exited the hangar and lifted his hand to return the gesture. He even managed NOT to trip going up the ramp, so he was going to count that as a win.

Still reeling, he slid into the pilot seat and popped the data stick into a port, the trip wouldn’t take long, but music was always welcome as far as Lance was concerned. Stretching, he toggled the comms on, “Red Paladin, fully stocked and ready to launch.”

“Hey Lance,” Keith popped up on his vidscreen, surprising him. “There’s a sliiiight delay. Allura, and Coran are down in the med wing. Something’s going on with that Altean pilot, but Allura promised she wouldn’t be long.”

“Is everything alright?” worry tinged his voice, he knew how invested Allura was in the well-being of the only Altean other than Romelle they’d been able to locate since news of the colony had reached them. 

“Yeah, I think so, Romy didn’t seem upset when I checked in with her.” Keith bit the corner of his lip in that adorable way he did when he worried about his mother, Kosmo, or ‘Romy’ who had become something of an honorary sister to him. 

“So, you’re just chilling out on the Bridge of the Atlas, then?” he laughed, “because from here it looks like I’m connected to the teleduv generator and I know you can’t work that thing.”

“Uh… no, I’m in Black, we just temporarily rerouted comms to me while they are in the med wing. Been awhile since we were the only ones on comms… what did you used to call it?”

“Late Night Lion Radio,” he laughed, smiling at the reminder of chatting with Keith when they had insomnia and everyone else was sleeping during the ‘road trip’.

Keith laughed, one of the real laughs that Lance always treasured, because they were pretty rare. “Yeah, that’s what it was. So…” he stretched, leaning back in his seat, “I have a question… why do you keep talking like Veronica is the scary sister when Rachel is a person that exists?”

“Because Veronica IS the scary sister, and she has access to firearms,” Lance chuckled. “Rachel’s a pushover and a sweetheart, the only time Rachel gets scary is when…” Oh. Oh no! Ohnonononono... The only time Rachel was scary was when she was being protective of her family. “What did Rachel DO???”

“She didn’t DO anything, but she’s… uh… got quite a… umm… colorful vocabulary. Yeah. Let’s call it that.”

He buried his face in his hands, mortified, “what did she threaten you over?”

“The game show,” Keith said softly, “and, like, I’d apologize NOW, but… pretty sure it wouldn’t mean anything to you since you know Rachel went off on me.”

“I’m sorry, man, she shouldn’t have said shit to you,” Lance said in a rush, “I was just venting to her after the fight with Veronica and all kinds of crap just came pouring out.”

“It was… kind of a shock, that’s for sure. But…” he sighed, “I can’t really say she’s WRONG. I handled that whole thing really badly and I should have talked to you about it before now.”

“Keith- we’re cool. I swear. I was just rattling off stuff that stressed me out while I was gone, mostly because I hadn’t had the chance to say it out loud to anyone before.” He shook his head, vowing to KILL his sister when he got the chance, “I can’t believe those nosy, meddling… ugh… what did she say?”

“That’s not important. You’re sure we’re good?”

“Except it IS important because I need to know what I’m yelling at her for,” Lance snapped.

“Oh man, you two get mad the EXACT same way, it’s really disconcerting,” Keith chuckled, “I missed half of what she was saying because it was so eerie. She looks so much like you and moves like you, but she doesn’t sound the same and there was… just so much HAIR…”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m a lot like Rachel, I get it. What did she SAY, Mullet?”

“She threatened to kick my ass if I let anyone get away with calling you dumb again.”

“What?? THAT’S what she focused on? God, she’s weird. What were you supposed to do? Tackle Bob?”

“I think she was talking more about the way we were acting when you were on the spot,” Keith looked away from the screen and rubbed at the back of his neck, “and she’s right- that was a shitty way to act. We’re a team, and we were not behaving like one and you got the brunt of it and that’s not okay.”

“That’s skirting real close to an apology there, Keith,” he teased… because he did NOT want to talk about this any longer than absolutely necessary and now that he knew what Rachel said, he was pretty much done with the topic. It had hurt at the time, and parts of it had lingered a bit… but he had a ton of siblings, he knew how to accept when people messed up and hurt each other and to put things into perspective in terms of the bigger picture. The game show had been a mess, but each and every one of the paladins had faced life threatening situations with him. They’d all trusted him at his back. They’d all put themselves in harm’s way to protect him. That was so much more important than Bob’s weirdo game-show thing.

“You meant it when you said we’re good?” he asked, and there was something… different… nervous, maybe? About his face, his voice. He seemed… unsure, or worried.

“Yeah, man,” Lance said, dropping any teasing from his voice, “I meant it. You and me, we’re cool. I’m good with the others, too. But I appreciate you saying all that stuff, even though it didn’t need to be said. Okay?”

Keith relaxed, and the smile that bloomed on his face was… so gorgeous. It was really unfair just how GORGEOUS Keith was when he smiled. “Yeah. Okay. Good. Hey- what’s that music? It sounds kinda familiar?”

“This? It’s… uhhh…” he glanced at the readout from the data stick, “something called ‘Mirror Wall’ by… umm… Cardinal Points. Orrr… it could be something called ‘Cardinal Points’ by Mirror Wall… I’m not sure which is the artist and which is the track.”

“Oh, okay, that’s why,” Keith tucked his hair behind his ear and his smile changed, “from James, I’m guessing? He gave me this data stick of music yesterday and that track is on it. I like it a lot, actually.”

Lance froze. James had made a data stick of music for Keith. For both of them. So… that meant it WASN’T a MIXTAPE mixtape. It was just a ‘for the love of God get better music’ mixtape. Nothing special. Not an indication of… anything. And… really, he’d known that. It was just that comment about picking out the songs that had thrown him off. Wishful thinking. That was always his downfall.

And it was ridiculous to be hurting right now. Because nothing changed. James was his friend yesterday, he was his friend today, and he’d be his friend tomorrow. The only thing that was different was that he had stupidly, stupidly, stupidly allowed himself to… fucking HOPE. 

He should know better.

Why did he keep doing this to himself?

First it was the whole thing with getting closer to Allura only to have Lotor show up and slap him with the reality of his situation. Allura was his friend. She was only ever going to be his friend. 

Then it was Keith. 

How he’d managed to get the idea in his head that Keith saw him as anything other than just another Paladin, he had no idea… but he had, and for a while, he’d had this thought in the back of his head that they were… headed somewhere. But, then Keith had gotten back from the abyss and barely spared him a glance, and any lingering hope he had had been thoroughly quashed by Keith’s answer in the game show when he’d said the reason he’d voted for Lance was so he wouldn’t be ‘stuck with him’.

Sure, they were good now, and he didn’t hold a grudge about the game show. He hadn’t been lying when he’d said that. But… he’d never be anything but a friend to Keith… and he was okay with that. Better than okay. Being considered an actual FRIEND by Keith was a rare privilege and it meant a lot to him that he was. 

His stupid crush was his burden to carry, so he did, and he knew from experience that eventually… EVENTUALLY it would fade and go away. Just like this crush on James would.

Because it wasn’t a MIXTAPE mixtape… and he hadn’t missed the way Keith’s face had changed when he mentioned James. Or the hair tuck- that he’d spotted TWICE. And he hadn’t missed that while James had started bringing cafe con leche to him for Veronica when he’d been fighting with his sister, he CHOSE to start bringing Keith a morning coffee everyday. 

“Lance?” Keith snapped his fingers, “you okay? You kind of zoned out there…”

“What? Yeah,” he flashed a bright (fake) smile, shaking his head, “I’m right as rain! Why wouldn’t I be? I’m about to hang out with merrrrrrrrmaids!”

“Oh quiznak,” Keith rolled his eyes, “you never change. Try not to get brainwashed or kidnapped this time.”

“I’m not going to get brainwashed or kidnapped,” he retorted, “that was a one time thing.”

“Fine then… umm… try not to get handcuffed- that happens to you all the time.”

“I dunno… there are certain situations where that-” The vidscreen changed, Keith blinking out and Allura’s face filling his screen. She mustn’t have realized that he and Keith were still on the comm channel and just switched the feed back to her teleduv station.

“Apologies for the delay, Red Paladin,” she said, all business, “if you’ll power up your Lion, I will let you know when you have a clear path and I am ready to open the teleduv.”

“Uh… thanks, Alu- I mean, thanks Blue Paladin. Red and I are ready and waiting.”

“Good. We will be ready for you in just a few doboshes,” she offered him a wan smile. He’d have to remember to ask her about it when he got back. On impulse, he grabbed his phone.

 

**HOT-SHOT-LANCELOT: Okay fine. You can play match-maker**

**MS-FIX-IT: I can????**

**HOT-SHOT-LANCELOT: Yes**

**HOT-SHOT-LANCELOT: Two conditions- 1 not for v-day, too much pressure**

**HOT-SHOT-LANCELOT: 2 you have to already KNOW they are into me**

**HOT-SHOT-LANCELOT: (and not cuz I’m kinda famous- no voltron groupies!)**

**MS-FIX-IT: I can soooo work with that! Girls only?**

 

He chewed his lip, it’s not like he was OUT… but his family already knew, and they were the only people whose reaction mattered to him. Fuck it. 

 

**HOT-SHOT-LANCELOT: no need to be so picky**

**HOT-SHOT-LANCELOT: I’m cool with anyone who meets my two conditions**

**MS-FIX-IT: Lance… hun… are you SURE?**

**HOT-SHOT-LANCELOT: Yeah you guys all already know anyway**

**MS-FIX-IT: okay**

**MS-FIX-IT: just so you know, I am super proud of you right now**

**MS-FIX-IT: love you so much**

**HOT-SHOT-LANCELOT: you too**

**HOT-SHOT-LANCELOT: gtg**

**HOT-SHOT-LANCELOT: check in with you when I’m back in the milky way**

 

He stowed his phone and let out a ragged breath. He was SO OVER being the guy that pines forever. Even if whatever date Rachel put together SUCKED, at least it was a step forward.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Mer was SO different than when he’d been here last! The ice had completely receded, leaving the planet with polar caps similar to Earth’s. With intergalactic travel an option once again, floating cities and submerged living complexes had been constructed for the ‘air breathers’. There were bustling communities made of people from all ends of the universe, most of them geared toward scientific research. Queen Luxia had taken great pride in giving him tour after tour of their new facilities. They all held a weird vibe of like, science lab crossed with luxury resort, but it was still awesome to see and the people that lived there seemed to be happy and productive.

The first night, he’d been set up in fancy schmancy suites in one of the floating cities. A makeshift hangar had been constructed for Red, several heavy-duty floating platforms linked together to make a strong, stable and DRY resting place for the Lion and once he was settled and his particle barrier activated, the people of Mer had deployed these awesome shimmering sheets that stretched out taut over Red, providing shade and protection from any splashing. Almost the instant that had gotten settled away, Red had stopped grumbling so much about being sent to an ocean planet.

His own suites had been… way too sumptuous. There was too much space for one person, and everything looked so NEW and shiny and so very, very, very breakable. He was a nervous wreck the whole night. The next day had been an entire day of feasting and being the face of the Coalition. He’d smiled and nodded and shook hands and bowed and taken pictures until his head was buzzing from more than the oddly dense drinks they’d kept his glass filled with. 

The second night, they’d installed him in much more modest digs in one of the underwater facilities. His room had a ‘downstairs’ level that was completely filled with water, which allowed him to spend that evening hanging out with Swirn and Blumfump- who had gotten married, like, to each other, which was… wild... since his last visit. They’d been awesome company and had made him feel like himself again after a whole day of feeling like he was playing a role. He’d asked about Plaxum but they’d waved off answering him, insisting that he had to see what she was up to for himself, and assuring him that he would get the chance. That was… okay. WEIRD, but whatever, he didn’t really expect anything NOT weird from those two. Like, he loved them, he really did, but they were a STRANGE pair.

The third day, he was delighted to discover that there were only two things on the agenda: a visit to the memorial erected in honor of all those lost to the Baku, and a quiet meal at Plaxum’s restaurant. Even better, he discovered that instead of prestigious suites meant for visiting dignitaries- which, okay, TECHNICALLY he was, even though he didn’t feel like he warranted so much EVERYTHING- he was actually going to be staying at Plaxum’s home. 

Queen Luxia had laughed when she saw his smile at that news, “my memory of much of your time here with us is very hazy, but I did recall that neither of you seemed overly comfortable with too much pomp and circumstance. I know that Plaxum is quite excited to show you the life she’s made for herself.”

The memorial was beautiful- a sculpture that resembled a coral reef, with a glowing pink seashell for each life lost… there were, just, so many… it was difficult to fathom, even after seeing similar memorial walls on Earth- and he spent a few minutes in quiet contemplation for the lives taken by the Baku with barely a whisper of grief while the population was under the sway of its influence, and how devastating it must have been for people to come out of that haze to realize the gruesome fate of their loved ones. He thought of poor, beautiful, kind Florona, the first person he’d met on Mer, who had died because of him and his friends. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered, inside the bubble of air surrounding his head. “I never meant you any harm. I wish we could have saved you.”

He felt a soft weight on his shoulder and turned to see the Queen beside him. “I know the weight of the guilt you bear,” she said sadly, eyes skimming the memorial and Lance realised that she felt something similar for each and every glowing bloom of pink. “But it is not your burden to carry, nor is it mine. We do no one any benefit when we shoulder the load of the Baku. Leave the stone of guilt where it belongs, on its cairn.”

He smiled at her, “you should get to know Princess Allura. I think you two would become good friends.”

“I would be most honored to call her friend,” she replied, “and now that we’ve seen to our sad remembrance, it is time to move on to happier reunions.”

Plaxum had a restaurant! Which, like, he KNEW, but actually seeing it was just so cool! She was happy and busy and was lit up with a kind of purpose that he recognized from years of friendship with Hunk. She kept bringing him little bowls of things that he ‘just had to taste’, even though he’d already had a full meal and was totally stuffed. But, she looked so eager and excited every time she brought over a bowl that he couldn’t refuse to TASTE it… and it was always so delicious that he ended up eating the whole dish. He hadn’t been this full since the time he was taste tester while Hunk perfected his snickerdoodle recipe.

He stayed to help her close up at the end of the evening and then she escorted him to the living quarters above the restaurant. They’d barely cleared the entryway when Plaxum got bowled over by a blur of fast moving… somethings. His bayard was in his hand before he even realized it, thankfully, not in weapon form though, because once the flurry of bubbles cleared he was shocked to see Plaxum with both arms filled with… the cutest little merbabies he’d ever seen. 

“You have kids??” he broke into a huge smile, “Plaxum, that’s amazing!”

“I have kids,” she answered, beaming, “guys- this is my friend Lance, he’s a Paladin of Voltron.”

There were four of them. They looked to be what he would call toddlers, all big eyes and bright colors and sturdy little webbed fingers and wispy tails. “Hiiiiii! I love kids! Oh, gosh, you guys are just adorable!”

“Lance,” Plaxum, shifted her arms as the babies climbed and swirled out of her grasp, eyeing him cautiously, “these are my fry. Okay.. stay put girls, I’m trying to introduce you! Sorry, they are kind of… umm…”

“A handful?” he laughed, “yeah I can see that. Okay… umm… I see a little one with big green eyes and a blue tail?”

“That’s Hunny,” she answered, which prompted the little one to poke her head out from behind her mother and wave. “Annnd… this little one wrapping around my waist here is Garrett.”

“Hunny and Garrett?” he repeated, “like… Hunk? Did you name them after Hunk?”

If possible her smile got even larger, “I did! And… oh, hang on…” She flipped backwards, catching the two little ones that had been swimming away, “this is Clain, and Lana. BUBBLERS! Pay attention!” She huffed, “sorry… listening is not… are you alright?”

“You named them Lana and Clain? You named them Lana and Clain.” Turns out, it really SUCKED to cry underwater with a weird air bubble that allowed you to breath, because trying to wipe the tears away just made your face wetter. “I’m fine… I’m just so honored... can’t believe you named them that!”

“Of COURSE I named them after the Paladins that saved us all! These are actually very, very common names now… so are Blue, Yellow, Vol, and Lion.”

“Wow. Okay. Yeah, you definitely chose the top four from that list!” He ducked down to wave at the little one with Plaxum’s coloring, “hi! You’re Clain, right? My name is Lance McClain! We’re name buddies!”

“An’me!” chirped the other, whose eyes were a rosy pink and whose tail was a soft yellow. 

“Yup, we’re name buddies, too Lana! Seriously, Plaxum, you have the cutest family, like, ever!”

“Thank-you so much! I’m pretty proud of them. They are bright, strong fry.”

“You know I’m going to need to get pictures for Hunk, right?” he said, swimming closer to the kids. “I bet you guys are SUPER fast! Way faster than me!”

“I fast,” Hunny declared proudly, peeking out from behind Plaxum again. 

He nodded seriously, “yeah. I can tell. You look fast. Who else is fast?”

One by one the children- ‘bubblers’ was apparently the Mer equivalent of ‘toddler’- warmed up to him and he spent the evening playing with them. They didn’t have ‘peek-a-boo’ on Mer! So, of course, he set right to work to ensure that all four fry were peek-a-boo champs to rectify that! They quickly picked up the game and would use both their hands, or their shimmering, translucent tails to hide behind. By the time they got drowsy, and Plaxum herded them off to sleep, they had thoroughly charmed him and he’d filled a good chunk of his phone’s memory with pictures of the cute little things. The rest of the evening was spent getting to know Plaxum’s mate, Rekfluron and regaling them with stories of his adventures with Voltron and settling back into life on Earth. By the time he floated to bed, he was beyond exhausted.

He woke buried under four little sleeping bubblers and nearly fainted from the cuteness. He ended up being stuck in bed for a solid hour while the little merfolk dozed because he could NOT bear to disturb them, but he managed to snap a few really sweet selfies. His phone was still in his hand when he got a message letting him know that whatever tests they’d been waiting on were done and he’d be returning home that day. He was technically out of range, but the Lions and the Atlas could reach Red, who could then bounce the signal to his phone. He’d been hoping for another day with Plaxum and her family, because her bubblers had completely stolen his heart- they were like adorable, energetic, giggling balls of chaos, in the best possible way- but even he knew that splitting the Lions up was something that should be avoided when possible. 

Unlike Lance, Red was impatient to get home, and was immune to the appeal of Lance’s new ‘gill-friends’ (a term coined by Hunny that he absolutely loved), so Lance ate breakfast with Plaxum’s family and made his goodbyes. He nearly had a panic attack when the first of the girls stuck her face into his air bubble to give him a kiss- her little face all scrunched up to do so- until Plaxum reminded him that their gills were still in the water. That made the other goodbye kisses much less stressful, but no less lovable. Even after the kisses it took three full rounds of hugs from the bubblers and Plaxum before Lance was able to drag himself out the door. Rekfluron escorted him to the nearest submersible complex and made his own farewell, which mainly consisted of repeated promises to send pictures of the girls to Lance (and Hunk) at regular intervals. To his knowledge, no one he knew had ever named children after him (or Hunk, for that matter- that was definitely something Hunk would have told him!), so as far as he was concerned they were family.

It wasn’t until he was settled into Red’s cockpit and was watching those shimmery sheets retract and the beautiful panorama of endless sea meeting endless sky fill his view-screens that he even noticed the date. February sixteenth. Valentine’s day had passed while he was feasting and spending time with Swirm and Blumfump. He’d been alone, on a different planet, in a whole other galaxy, while his favorite holiday passed without so much as a thought from him. He wanted what Swirm and Blumfump had, he wanted a family like Plaxum had, he wanted the rush of falling in love like Veronica and Acxa had, he wanted it to grow into what his parents had. But, his time on Mer had made him realize that he had a lot of things to be grateful for, and if it took a while to figure out the whole ‘romance’ part of his life, that was okay, too. 

Feeling lighter than he had in ages, he opened a comm channel. Allura popped up on his screen, “hello Red Paladin! I trust your trip was productive?”

“Was it ever,” he laughed, pulling up his phone and turning the screen so Allura could see the photo, “I woke up this morning in bed with four of the cutest girls I have ever seen!”

“LANCE!” He could hear Shiro chiding him from the Bridge, but Allura laughed.

“They are CHILDREN!” she cooed, “how sweet!”

“Plaxum has a family now,” he gushed, “they are darling. I’m going to piggyback a video to Hunk while we are on the line if that’s alright?”

The line went quiet for a moment, presumably while they checked the data load on the comms network.

“That should be fine, Paladin McClain,” a voice he thought he recognized as that Curtis guy said. No one seemed to really know how to address the Paladins, so they got all kinds of variations of colors and titles and names. The inconsistency was kind of funny, but he was sure they’d streamline it soon enough.

“Copy that, and thank-you,” he sent the video he’d taken of the girls introducing themselves over the line. “Red Lion and I are fully loaded and ready to launch.”

“Coordinating with Mer now,” Shiro again, “stand by… alright. We have the all clear from Mer. You are good to go, Red Lion.”

“The teleduv will be waiting when you clear the upper atmosphere,” Allura added, “see you soon!”

Before he knew it, they were setting down in Red’s hangar, and for the first time in days the Lion was genuinely happy. “Who knew you were such a homebody, Red,” he teased lightly as he slid the pilot seat back and popped out the data stick. He couldn’t wait to shower. As much as he loved the ocean, spending several days underwater wasn’t exactly comfortable. He could FEEL the salt on his skin and in the undersuit of his paladin armor, and his hair felt weird from all that time in the funky bubble. His phone was going nuts, catching up on all the texts and alerts he’d missed while he was off planet and he planned on spending as long as needed to chill out on the couch and get caught up.

He was stretching as he padded down the ramp, which was why he hadn’t noticed Shiro and Veronica waiting for him until they were so close that it startled the hell out of him. The squeak (not a scream) of surprise was DEFINITELY a very manly one. It didn’t sound at all like a little girl. He had no idea why Shiro snickered like that. 

“Ummm… Hi?” he said, moving on from the squeak (not a scream), “is something wrong?”

“Oh WOW, you reek of fish,” Veronica announced.

“Woah- RUDE! I was literally IN the ocean for the past three days, with fish people,” he pointed out, “I was actually PLANNING to shower, Nic. Geez!”

She scowled and glanced at her wristwatch, because Veronica McClain was the last person in existence to insist on wearing an old fashioned, wind-up wristwatch. Because OF COURSE she was. “Hopefully, one or two rounds with some body wash will do the job. We don’t have time for more than that.”

“Time? What’s the rush?” he glanced from one to the other, “is there something wrong with the samples? Did something bad happen?”

“Everything is fine, Lance,” Shiro assured him, “we just promised Rachel you wouldn’t be late, so we’re going to debrief while you get ready.”

“Rachel? Get ready?” He pulled out his phone, opening his messages and reading the ones from Rachel.

 

**Ms-Fix-It: I am amazing**

**Ms-Fix-It: You get in today, I checked**

**Ms-Fix-It: reservation 7:30pm tonight V knows where**

**Ms-Fix-It: wear a suit**

**Ms-Fix-It: bring 2 roses**

**Ms-Fix-It: RED roses, don’t wimp out and get white ones**

**Ms-Fix-It: YOU’RE WELCOME this is some of my best work!**

**Ms-Fix-It: you love me**

 

“I have a date? Tonight? Geez! Rachel doesn’t waste time, does she?” he stumbled after Veronica.

 

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: Do I at least get a name?**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: Some kind of bio?**

**Ms-Fix-It: No**

**Ms-Fix-It: you gave me 2 conditions**

**Ms-Fix-It: I met them**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: you are a pain**

**Ms-Fix-It: you love me**

 

 

“This way,” Shiro said, turning him down a corridor.

“Where are we going?”

“My quarters,” Shiro explained, “it saves time.”

“You guys seem… uh… really invested,” Lance pointed out as Veronica SHOVED him. “Hey! If I sprain my ankle because you keep pushing me around I am definitely going to be late.”

Veronica took a breath in through her mouth and let it out slowly, “sorry… you just REALLY stink.”

“Tell us about Mer,” Shiro prodded, “debriefing while you get ready, remember?”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

He fussed with his suit (a SUIT? REALLY RACHEL!?!?!), suddenly nervous for some reason. This was stupid! WHY had he ever agreed to let Rachel play matchmaker? Now he was standing in the entrance of a restaurant he’d never been to, wearing a SUIT, and holding TWO roses for some reason. He should just leave. He should just leave and tell Rachel to say that he got held up on Mer. 

Yes.

That’s what he should do.

This whole thing was a mistake.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. Sighing, he pulled it out.

 

**Mag-Nic-icent-1: Don’t you DARE!**

**Mag-Nic-icent-1: If you walk out that door I will NEVER forgive you!**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: Are you SPYING on me?**

**Mag-Nic-icent-1: I know you**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: you know nothing**

 

He peered out the window looking for signs of his sister.

 

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: Is that SHIRO??**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: Are you in a car with TAKASHI SHIROGANE right now?**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: in the parking lot??**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: SPYING on me??**

**Mag-Nic-icent-1: I have no idea what you are talking about**

**Mag-Nic-icent-1: I’m with Acxa**

**Mag-Nic-icent-1: she wants to say hi**

**Mag-Nic-icent-1: hi this is Acxa**

 

He blinked at the phone. Did Veronica SERIOUSLY expect him to buy that? The only way she was with Acxa was if Acxa was in the car with her and Shiro- because he could SEE the damn car! Oh god, was Acxa in the car, too? How was this his actual life?

 

**Mag-Nic-icent-1: straighten your tie**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: I hate you**

**Mag-Nic-icent-1: you love me**

**Mag-Nic-icent-1: go inside**

**Mag-Nic-icent-1: seriously**

**Mag-Nic-icent-1: Rache did good**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: You KNOW who is in there?**

**Mag-Nic-icent-1: JUST GO!**

 

He fought the urge to growl, irritation and indignation crowding out his earlier nerves. SISTERS! Why had he EVER missed those two?!?!?

 

**Oh-Captain-My-Captain: Seriously Sharpshooter, quit stalling**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: I cannot believe you**

**Oh-Captain-My-Captain: I’ve seen you pull yourself out of a coma to shoot Sendak**

**Oh-Captain-My-Captain: are you really going to let a blind date defeat you?**

**Oh-Captain-My-Captain: you are better than this**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: you are better than spying on me from the parking lot**

**Oh-Captain-My-Captain: clearly I am not**

**Hot-Shot-Lancelot: omg FINE!**

 

He flipped them off through the window and took a deep, steadying breath. He could do this. It was just a date. A blind date. Simple. Rachel had promised she’d met his two conditions. Veronica (he was mad at her, she didn’t deserve the nickname) was confident that he’d be pleased. Even Shiro-which stung, it really did. Siblings, he expected this shit from but SHIRO??? REALLY universe? Really?- was on board with this. This was his own fault, he reminded himself. The only reason Rachel arranged this was because he TOLD her to.

Another deep breath and then his hand was on the inner door and he was walking through it and giving his name to the hostess… and this was a REALLY NICE restaurant without being stuffy or pretentious… so… okay... MAYBE Rachel might know what she was doing. That thought didn’t really do much to settle his nervous stomach, or his racing heart. When was the last time he’d gone on a date? A REAL date, not some hook-up after the Voltron Show, or at a party? God, he couldn’t even remember! No wonder he was a wreck!

His phone rang and he glanced at the caller id. Hunk. Thank God. 

“Heya buddy! Did you get the video?”

“Did I? Ohmigod Lance, they are the CUTEST!” Hunk gushed.

“Right? The videos don’t even do them justice. They are just so adorable. Hunny kept saying they were my GILL friends. Like… my heart!” He smiled, thinking of the bubblers.

“Awww Hunny and Garrett! I can’t believe that! It is so sweet! Where are you right now? I want to see the other pictures!”

“Uhhhh I’m actually… out… just walking to my table now…” he glanced around, trying to spot any familiar faces. Also- just how big WAS this place? It felt like they’d been walking for YEARS!

“The DATE! Right! I completely forgot. Sorry!”

“Hunk? You knew about the date?” That was… weird. Just how many of his friends were part of this conspiracy?

“Only because your sister wanted my opinion on restaurants. You are at Milano’s Trattoria, right?” 

“Yeah… it looks great,” Lance answered as the hostess stopped by a door. “Looks like I’m in a private room?”

“You’ll love the food there. Have fun. Byeeeeeeeeeeee! Tell me about it tomorrow!”

Tomorrow? Hunk had higher hopes for his date than he did! The hostess tapped twice and then opened the door and he caught the tail end of a familiar voice saying something. “Thank-you,” he said automatically, smiling at the hostess and stepping into the small room.

And in that one moment his entire world flipped upside down, shook itself silly, and then righted itself again… unrecognizable.

Because sitting at the table, in the small, intimate space, bathed in soft lighting and looking too good to be real was NOT the pretty girl he’d been expecting.

It was Keith.

And James.

Keith AND James.

KEITH AND JAMES!

It’s not often you could FEEL the blood drain from your face, but in that moment, Lance did. Then it allll came rushing back in a blush so sudden that he felt lightheaded.

“Ummm… hi,” he said, his voice cracking and then going all wheezy-soft. Great. He coughed, “sorry… still adjusting to dry land, I guess.”

“Roses?” Keith had an expression on his face that Lance couldn’t quite decipher. There were elements of puzzled… but also a hint of a smirk that made it seem like he was ready to laugh at him… and his cheeks were flushed, eyes darting from Lance’s face to the roses to the table and back again. 

“Yes, roses,” Lance replied, fighting the urge to panic, because holy shit holy shit HOLY SHIT! A date with Keith! A date with James! With BOTH of them- “I am a gentleman. One for each of you.” He handed them the roses with an awkward but sincere smile.

“You look like you were not in the loop about this,” James observed, a smile teasing at the corners of his mouth.

“I was,” Lance answered, taking a seat, because he couldn’t BREATHE properly and his heart was racing and just… auuuuugh! How was this REAL!?!?!? “I just wasn’t told it was you guys.”

That made James actually laugh, “leave it to your sisters to spring this on you as a blind date.”

“If you want to bail,” Keith said softly, not meeting his eyes, “it… would… make sense.”

“You guys knew what the situation would be? Like, Rachel didn’t blind date all of us, did she?” If she sent them all here blind Lance was going to lose his shit!

“I knew,” James said after a moment of very tense silence.

Keith sighed, closing his eyes as he nodded, “me too.”

“Then,” Lance answered, blood singing in his veins,. This was real. A REAL date with the two (2) guys he’d been completely gone on for literal YEARS. “I’m not bailing.”

Holy shit- Keith’s FACE when he said that! He glowed like a nightlight he was so lit up. He really wanted to be here. He really wanted to be on a date with LANCE. James lifted the rose to his face and breathed in the fragrance, but his eyes were positively dancing. He wanted to be there, too. 

How was this real? His brain was scrabbling, frantically trying to reorganize information and cues for behavior based on this new reality. Piecing together so many tiny moments that Lance had caught and then dismissed as wishful thinking into a COMPLETELY different picture than the one he had painted of them in his mind. “I’ve been… pretty clueless, huh?”

They smiled at each other and then him. James reached across the table to tangle their hands together, “I’d go with ‘cautious’.”

“But clueless also works,” Keith supplied, oh-so-helpfully.

Lance rolled his eyes, but his smile just kept growing. “Veronica didn’t have anything to do with the cafe con leche, did she?”

James laughed again, “you thought that was Vero playing puppeteer? No. That was all me.”

“Looks like we have a lot to talk about tonight,” Keith observed, resting his hand over their clasped ones.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“KEITH! Would you send Kosmo somewhere for like, an HOUR? He keeps rubbing against me and I’m running out of sticky stuff on this lint roller!” Lance was frazzled. Everything had to be perfect. PERFECT! And having his ‘sand’ colored linen slacks covered in black and blue Kosmo hair would make it decidedly not perfect.

“Breathe, Gumdrop,” James cupped Lance’s face in both his hands, “it’s just dinner.”

“It’s not JUST dinner! It’s dinner with your father! Who we’ve never met-”

“I’ve met him,” Keith called from the other room.

“A vidcall doesn’t COUNT, Mullet,” he called back, “as I was saying- who we’ve never met, and who is important to you, and it is on a YACHT.”

“Okay, okay… you’re right. It’s dinner with my father- who already knows all about both of you and who sees how happy I am and is kind of starstruck about meeting TWO Paladins of Voltron. I promise you, he’s more nervous than you are.” 

“You are going to win him over in five seconds flat,” Keith said, appearing out of nowhere to pluck the lint roller out of Lance’s hands. “Ignore the wolf hair until we are out the door, then lint roller it once. You taught me that trick. Remember? I don’t get why you are in such a panic.”

“I don’t get how you are SO calm!” Lance countered, “you hate social stuff- this is social stuff.”

Keith slipped behind him, one hand moving to rest on Lance’s hip while the other wrapped around James’ back. He hooked his chin over Lance’s shoulder, and kissed his jaw. “Are you going to be there?”

“Yeah, obviously.”

“Mmmhmm.. And is James going to be there?”

“Of course he is, it’s HIS father!”

“Then there’s your answer- if you are both going to be there, I don’t need to worry about the social stuff.”

“Jelly Bean’s right,” James soothed, “it’s three to one in our favor. We’ve got this. Besides, if I can meet Krolia and face down the ENTIRE McClain family, you can handle one retired venture capitalist.”

“John Griffin is NOT just ‘one retired venture capitalist’,” Lance muttered, “he’s your father, the only parent you still have contact with. THAT’s why I’m freaking out.”

“He’s my Dad, and he loves me… and I love YOU guys, and I’m happy. So, he’s going to love you,” James pressed a little kiss to each of their lips, “he’s going to LOVE you.”

“We’ve got this, babe,” Keith whispered and Lance heard the promise in the words.

“Okay,” he breathed, letting his nerves settle. “It’s one dinner. Then tomorrow we leave for our trip.”

“I still can’t believe we are going on a SKI vacation for our first Valentine’s and first anniversary.” Keith shook his head, reaching up to run his hand through Griffin’s hair, his expression tender, “still not sure how you managed to convince the desert rat and the beach bum to agree to three days in the snow and ice.”

“Desert ROSE and beach BABE,” James insisted, “and I believe it was the cozy fireplace and the big bed and unlimited hot chocolate.”

“That and we love you,” Lance laughed.

“There is that, yeah,” Keith agreed.

“I love you both, so much,” he replied, “right, if everyone is ready, we should head out.”

“I can fix my tie in the shuttle,” Lance sighed as they untangled from each other with the ease of long practice. His eyes drifted over both of them in their dressy clothes and he took a moment to really appreciate how gorgeous they were, individually and as a pair. Because… just… DAMN they were the hottest guys he’d ever laid eyes on and even after a year it still didn’t seem real that they came home to HIM every night.

“Lance?” Keith’s voice startled him out of his reverie.

“What? Oh! Right… on my way. Let’s get this show on the road.” His hand slipped easily into James’ as they exited their shared quarters. Keith punched in the lock code and jogged to catch up to them, linking his pinkie around Lance’s. He gave their joined arms a little swing and when Lance glanced over, he flashed one of those no-longer-rare true smiles at him.

 

It was so much better than those dreams that used to plague him.

 

**Author's Note:**

> (PS: Okay, so listen- if there is anyone out there who wants to do some art of Lance waking up at Plaxum's covered in his sleeping 'gill friends' I would likely DIE of sheer joy! Those bubblers literally swam off with a chunk of my soul and I can't draw worth a d@mn.)
> 
> (PPS: To be completely honest, art of ANY of the scenes in ANY of my stories would make me weep from too many feels. Seriously. I'm a sap.)


End file.
